The Analysis, released last month by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, makes this observation: “The rate of growth of rural wages, after having averaged 18 percent (26 percent at its peak) for the previous five years, has now decelerated sharply into single digit territory. This reflects strong disinflationary pressures in agriculture and signals a slack in the labour market.”
Normally, a slack in the labour market should mean a boom in NREGA employment, as people not getting jobs anywhere should be flocking to it. But the opposite seems to have happened despite higher NREGA wages.