What does courage actually require?

In her recent article on July 27, 2026 titled ‘What does courage cost us?’, Smarinita Shetty, CEO and co-founder of IDR, posed a critical challenge to India’s civil society, urging organisations to find their spines and demonstrate genuine courage in an increasingly hostile environment. This brings us to an uncomfortable question: Does our development sector ecosystem have the political capability for courage? Or does the process of institutionalising nonprofits dull the ability to question power?

People who join the social sector often do it for two reasons. The first is that they have a…