Courage in public service is often an act of choosing others over oneself. Illustrate with recent examples and discuss how such values can be built in professionals.

Courage in public service is the will to put the safety and welfare of others above one's own comfort or life. It reflects altruism and a sense of duty. Recent events show that this value can be built into professionals through deliberate effort.

Recent examples of other-regarding courage

• Captain Smit Machchhar (2026): On a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv, the co-pilot attacked the Indian commander, allegedly to seize the aircraft. Though wounded, the captain opened the cockpit door so passengers could overpower the co-pilot. He said he "could not bear to think of what would happen to others" if he did not act [1].
• Professional competence as courage: His 17 years of flying let him see that the plane was losing altitude. Skill turned fear into decisive action [1].
• Ahimsa reframed: The PM linked the act to ahimsa, understood as protecting life rather than never using force [1].
• Silkyara tunnel rescue (2023): Agencies and workers kept up a 17-day effort that brought out all 41 trapped labourers safely [2].
• Collective courage: In both cases, ordinary people (passengers, rescue crews) acted together once a lead was given [1][2].

Building such values in professionals

• Value-based training: Mission Karmayogi shifts capacity building from rules to roles and competencies, including behavioural skills [3].
• Codified ethics: The 2nd ARC's 4th Report (Ethics in Governance) recommended codes of ethics and value training for civil servants [4].
• Skill as the base of courage: Frequent simulation and drills (for example, crisis drills for aircrew) make the right response automatic.
• Institutional backing: Legal protection, medical and consular support (here, for a pilot hospitalised in the UAE) and fair inquiry reduce the personal cost of acting [1].
• Role models and recognition: Public honours and examples in training curricula build a culture of service.
• Family and education: Early lessons in empathy and Gandhian values lay the base.

Values (empathy, duty) → Skill (training, drills) → Institutional support → Courageous action

Flow: how courage is built in a professional

Courage in public service rests on empathy, skill and institutional support. Pairing missions like Karmayogi with ethics codes, as the ARC suggested, can turn rare heroism into a routine professional standard. This serves the constitutional ideal of fraternity and SDG 16 on accountable institutions.