Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced another set of measures to provide relief and enable various sectors to deal with the disruption caused by the pandemic. Although the announcements are well-intentioned, they are unlikely to change much on the ground. It is clear that, like last year, the government’s focus is on providing relief and not necessarily boosting demand through direct government spending, which is also the right thing to do at this stage because the pandemic is not over, and there will be recurring calls on the treasury at a time when the revenue mobilisation is expected to remain muted, argues our