Contemporary states act as facilitators and this facilitation can be result oriented and successful only when effective governance is ensured. In the era of globalisation, greater emphasis is being laid today on good governance because of the critical link between the state and the global community. The nation states need to reinvent themselves and reframe their development strategy, which requires a thorough revision of their existing approach to international relations and internal governance. As a part of the ongoing administrative reform process, e-governance envisages a structural change in the bureaucracy and is perceived as a key to a more flexible and proactive governance in tune with the concerns of citizen-friendly administration. The present article explores the challenges and prospects of e-governance and tries to delve into the complex socio-cultural dynamics alongside political-bureaucratic initiatives that are crucial factors for the successful transition from traditional governance to the electronic governance. It attempts to situate the ongoing Digital India Mission in the larger context of good governance by examining the case study of the Indian Province of Odisha, where a silent but stunning revolution is taking shape.

Violence against the vulnerable sections of the society arising due to multitude factors in the era of globalisation is a serious matter of social and academic discourse. The growing incidence of violence perpetrated against women in contemporary times is a testimony to the fast-eroding idea of human security in a globalised world, which originates from the patriarchal power structure existing in the society. Women at large are proving to be the most vulnerable section of the society, who bear the brunt of the ongoing process of social and economic transformations in the 21st century. Globalisation has presented new challenges for the realisation of the goal of women's equality and justice, the gender impact of which has not been systematically evaluated fully. Benefits of the growing global economy are unevenly distributed leading to wide economic disparities, the feminisation of poverty, increased gender inequality through deteriorating working conditions and an unsafe working environment, especially in the rural areas. Violence against tribal women as a legitimate human rights issue is examined within four broad parameters of globalisation, development, displacement and migration.

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Socio-economic rights are enabling instruments of healthy democratic practices in every liberal society, which lead to empowerment of people in general and the marginalised and underprivileged sections of the society in particular. These rights compliment corresponding political and legal rights of citizens and thereby create conditions of good living. The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution had firm belief in providing these provisions in the form of well-intended objectives to bring about socio-economic justice. However, these rights were mostly enshrined in the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) in Part-IV of the Indian Constitution, which are not justiceable. Despite political will, socioeconomic rights could not find their due place in the category of justiceable rights because of the economic constraints of the post-colonial state. On the other hand, the emphasis on political and civil rights had its historical justification due to the legacy of the anti-colonial movement. The priority of the newly born Indian nation was political democracy for all rather than socio-economic democracy, which was a much more complex and gigantic task to be achieved. Hence political rights were incorporated as fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution. It is observed that though Indian democracy gathered momentum and strengthened its roots in political terms, consequent socio-economic democracy could not be achieved due to the subsequent political discourse in this country due to the perennial resource constraints and economic handicaps of the post-colonial state. However, things started moving in a positive direction in the last two decades. With the change in approach towards development

LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual) is an evolving issue which needs to be debated in the legislatures and political space in general to deconstruct and redefine the narratives which have been influenced by the dominant sociocultural stereotypes. This is important in the context of the changing scenario worldwide involving the LGBTQIA+ community where assertions are being witnessed to reclaim the democratic space and civil rights to give shape to a more egalitarian and inclusive civic culture. This article highlights the changing character of the public discourse on LGBTQIA+ community in India in recent times and its impact on the judiciary and the political system. In the light of the recent Supreme Court landmark verdict of decriminalising Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), the present article seeks to examine a vast array of possibilities and challenges before the LGBTQIA+ community. The legal safeguards guaranteed through judicial pronouncements by the Supreme Court (6 September 2018), however, do not ensure the creation of an enabling social environment to accept homosexuality as a ‘normal behaviour’. Hence, unless corresponding corrective measures are taken to bring about social reforms for change of perception towards the homosexuality community, no amount of judicial intervention will guarantee their inclusion in the mainstream.