New Delhi, Dec. 15 -- Last fortnight, I was in Bengaluru, where, along with hundreds of other passengers, we saw IndiGo shuffle flight schedules like a pack of cards. Travellers across the country faced delays of up to 12 hours. The airline, controlling above 60% of India's aviation market, had collapsed.

What unfolded was not just an airline management crisis-subsequent developments suggested that the company had strategically deployed industrial action against an air-safety regulation.

The incident points to a deeper malaise of what might be called passive governance: a state that waits for problems to manifest rather than anticipating and preventing them.

What is passive governance? It is not a lack of governance; it is a style of g...