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The Executive Board reviewed the Country Strategic Opportunities Paper for the Republic of India (document EB 2001/74/R.11). The COSOP was found to be comprehensive, realistic and in the right direction in terms of the strategy proposed. In this respect, it was noted that IFAD's decision to focus on promoting grass-roots institutions was justified on the basis that upland areas were not only resource-poor but lacked an institutional framework. It was further clarified that the Government of India was implementing watershed development programmes in support of such areas. The marginalization of tribal populations and measures to counter that process needed to be both understood and dealt with at the state level. The proposed "coalition of the poor" would go a long way towards helping tribal populations to enjoy their rights, as set out in India's Constitution, and to benefit from the Government's positive discrimination policies. The Government was promoting women's education schemes in an attempt to redress the problems of child malnutrition and labour. IFAD was commended on its contribution to identifying ways of reducing poverty in India, and for successfully addressing a number of issues in the Asia and the Pacific region, despite the many complexities and contradictions in the social, economic and political spheres. Given the potential of information and communications technology in the fight against rural poverty, it was agreed that a section on this subject would be incorporated in the COSOP.
