Abstract:
Poor governance creates many problems to human lives. People’s awareness
on public policies is important as knowledge, failure of addressing public
issues implies the failure of public policy. The objective of the study is to
identify the perception of rural communities on government response to
human security in terms of life, livelihood and health security. Data were
collected through a randomly selected sample of 158 individuals from 79
households from two elected divisions in Anuradhapura District. The case
study analysis was also carried out based on interviews with 19 individuals
from 10 households and data were collected from five informants. The results
showed that gender, age and income have influenced the perception of people
of the government’s response to rural issues. People do not expect the
government’s support for life security and livelihood security of rural
communities while for health security, people’s perception is that the
government’s support is essential. In conclusion, Sri Lanka needs to focus on
human security in formation and implementation of development policies
where referent object is an individual.
