This article offers a cross-sectional exploration of the COVID-19 containment strategy in Kerala and highlights its initial effectiveness in the Kasaragod district, the first to record a second stage transmission in the state with a cluster of cases from 23 March 2020 onwards. Despite its underwhelming healthcare infrastructure, Kasaragod district managed to contain the transmission and record a 100 per cent recovery rate, indicating a promising model of infection control. However, the district subsequently succumbed to community-level transmission when another wave of positive cases of COVID-19 was detected among repatriated overseas citizens on 7 May 2020. The article explores the confluence of elements that allowed the initial successful recovery from a second stage transmission and then examines the factors that later led to community-level transmission. Given the close connections of Kerala to other parts of the world through migration, the article illustrates how precariously the local is now part of the global.

Being one of the badly affected nations by the novel coronavirus, the Indian government had rolled out a set of strategies to contain the transmission. While measures like the lockdown inflicted significant damage on many sections of society, the interstate migrant labourers' plight across India was nothing less than disastrous. While the privileged sections of the society could afford the strict restrictions laid down by the state, the migrant labourers stuck in different parts of the country found themselves to be second class citizens. This research is an ethical discourse on the human dignity of migrant labourers in a welfare state during the pandemic context. Data gathered from reports on the subject matter in media licensed by the state were analysed under the theoretical lens of violation of human dignity. The outcome of the research involves a critical appraisal of the human dignity of the marginalised in a so-called modern welfare state.

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Older adults are often portrayed as incompetent digital citizens, mostly stemming from the popular perception of older adults as “digital immigrants.” The purpose of this research study was to study how older adults can effectively engage in digital platforms. Following a qualitative approach, 30 older parents who have emigrated children (15 males and 15 females) from Kerala, India, were interviewed who were active users of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The findings show how the respondents embraced digital technologies stemming from perceived emotional benefits associated with intergenerational contact, without which they would not have ventured into the digital space. From seeking emotional goals initially, the respondents gradually started pur­suing intellectual goals in the digital world. The varying degrees of exper­tise of older adults in the digital space indicate that they cannot arbitrarily be categorised as digital immigrants. Instead, they are “digital citizens” who gradually better themselves in social networks, information literacy and social participation online.

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