---
layout: default
title: "Honesty"
description: "Honesty as a core value of The Sunil Abraham Project (TSAP), guiding how we work together, engage with others, and communicate with the public."
categories: [TSAP Documentation]
permalink: /tsap/honesty/
created: 2026-07-19
---

{% include notice.html message="This is a Policy and Guidelines page of The Sunil Abraham Project and is currently being documented. Additional content, supporting articles, essays, and related materials will be added as the documentation develops." %}

**Honesty** is a core value at The Sunil Abraham Project. It guides how we work together as a team, how we engage with others, and how we communicate with the public. We strive to be truthful and sincere in our words and actions, to represent information and our work accurately, and to acknowledge and correct our mistakes openly. <span class="honesty-highlight">Honesty is essential, and everyone involved with the project should make every sincere effort to be honest in their work, conduct, and interactions.</span>

## What is honesty?

Although honesty has been examined, discussed, and understood in many different ways, we recognise that calling it a core value requires us to be clear about what we mean by it.

We understand honesty as a commitment to truthfulness in both words and actions, and to being sincere in our commitment to the mission and purpose of The Sunil Abraham Project. It means acting in good faith, not knowingly deceiving or misleading others, and not concealing or distorting the truth for convenience, personal benefit, or advantage. It also means placing the interests and mission of the project above selfish considerations when carrying out our responsibilities. Honesty requires the courage to admit when we are wrong, to acknowledge what we do not know, and to remain truthful even when the truth is difficult, inconvenient, or unfavourable to us.

You may read more about honesty on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honesty), [Grokipedia](https://grokipedia.com/page/Honesty), or explore further resources through a [Google search](https://www.google.com/search?q=honesty).

## Background

At the [Centre for Internet and Society](/cis/), [Sunil Abraham](/sunil/) often spoke of "brutal honesty" and encouraged people to practise it. Various organisations and institutions, both in India and globally, recognise honesty as a core value. At The Sunil Abraham Project, team members and participants are similarly encouraged to approach their work and their interactions with honesty. We consider honesty essential to the integrity of the project, its work, and the relationships among the people involved in it.

## Upcoming content

The following content may be added gradually to this page or developed as supporting articles to strengthen this documentation:

- *TSAP Honesty Checker* — a practical tool for reflecting on whether actions, decisions, and communications are consistent with our understanding of honesty.
- *How to be Dishonest in the Workplace* — a collection of common examples of dishonest behaviour, intended to make clear the kinds of conduct that are inconsistent with this core value.
- *Our policies are not a one-way commitment* — an exploration of the principle that organisational values and commitments involve reciprocity. A commitment to honesty does not mean that one person can repeatedly act dishonestly while expecting others to continue extending the same trust and good faith without consequence.
- *Dishonesty is NOT welcome* — a straightforward statement on why deliberate and repeated dishonesty is incompatible with the values of The Sunil Abraham Project.

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