These trends are resulting in the dislocation and forced displacement of farmers, forest communities and fisherfolk, loss of livelihood and food sources in these regions, and large- scale destruction of natural resources. FLAG's members throughout the country have handled many cases related to these trends. Most alarmingly, the number of urban poor approaching FLAG about evictions and demolitions of homes has drastically increased. FLAG felt a pressing need to develop a systematic and effective approach to these problems. Internal capacities FLAG's members are skilled in utilizing law as a tool to seek justice and working with people to learn about their problems, critically analyze legal and social structures, educate them on their legal rights, and facilitate their recognition of and ability to advocate for themselves.
FLAG also has significant experience using a human rights approach.
FLAG's National Board felt that despite its lack of experience working on ESC rights and the relative lack of elaboration of these rights, FLAG does have the capacity to learn about and develop a clear approach to problems of an economic, social and cultural character using a rights perspective. FLAG developed a task force approach to defining the rights, one which involves a broad range of people, including individuals from affected sectors, governmental representatives, professionals working in the area of concern, as well as other actors who play a role in defining the nature and implementation of policies concerning the particular right. FLAG's Economic Social and Cultural Rights Program builds on the organization's vision, the problems and contextual realities it encounters, and the organization's knowledge of human rights and legal structures and remedies. Despite reports by the government of Gujarat claiming that significant budgetary allocations were being directed to poor and tribal communities, the lives of the people in these communities had not visibly improved over the years. Each Indian state has some liberty in making decisions about, for instance, whether more money is spent on education than on industrial development.