Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has advised the state governments to ensure conducive environment for the effective implementation of Centrally-sponsored rural employment schemes, like National Rural Employ ment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Presiding over the 4th meeting of the Central Employment Guarantee Council here, Mr Singh said that guidelines issued for the successful implementation of NREGA should be followed in letter and spirit. The provision for protection to social audit teams, the status of operational guide lines of NREGA, access to NREGA-related documents, crucial role of public vigilance processes, definition of household under the Act and removal of any inconsistency between the Act and guidelines in this regard, raising the financial allocation for administrative expenses under NREGA from four per cent to six per cent of the total NREGA costs, were among the issues focused on by Mr Singh. Mr Singh referred to the draft CAG report and said that instructions have been issued to the states for initiating corrective measures. Referring to the reported incident of attack on social activists conducting social audit of National Rural Employment Guarantee Pro gramme (NREGP), in a state, Mr Singh said that such incidents are unfortunate and deserve condemnation. Social audit should be promoted and fostered, as it helps check the corrupt practices, if any, he said. Nobody can be permitted to prevent the momentum of NREGP and every action should be oriented to serve the interest of our rural masses who are already deprived of a lot of opportunities. The members also put forth demand for the preparation of a supplement to the operational guidelines, all issues related with job cards, transparency of muster rolls, pro-active disclosure of information, work applications, permissible works, etc.