There is an interesting statistic on the daily unemployment allowance that state governments are supposed to pay under NREGA if a job-seeker does not get work within 15 days of applying for it. In 2014-15, as of January, the demand for 35 lakh days of unemployment allowance (out of the total demand for 163 crore days) was rejected. The top reason for rejection—89 per cent—is “workers not willing to work”, followed by “no ongoing works” (10 per cent). Why would people who are so poor that they volunteer for manual labour refuse to take up whatever work was coming their way? There have been complaints of work being provided in districts other than that of the job-seeker. But these are the people who migrate to faraway states in search of work. Clearly, there is some demand-side dynamic that the planners have missed.