Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Urvarak Setu. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the personal data you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application designed for farmers to manage fertilizer quotas and bookings.

Legal Compliance

This Privacy Policy is formulated in strict compliance with the following Indian laws and regulations:

• The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act)
• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act)
• The Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (SPDI Rules)

By using the App, you explicitly consent to the collection, processing, and use of your information in accordance with this policy and the aforementioned government regulations.

2. Data Collection & Usage

To provide you with our services, we collect specific personal and administrative data. We collect no other details beyond what is listed below.

• Full Name: For personal identification and record-keeping.
• Mobile Number: Used as the primary login credential and for communication/OTP verification.
• Aadhaar Number: A government-issued ID used to verify your identity and prevent duplicate registrations or fertilizer quota misuse.
• Registry ID: A mandatory unique society registration identifier used to validate your affiliation with the authorized agricultural framework.
• Geographical Data (Village, Tehsil, Block, District): Used to assign you to the nearest cooperative society (Samiti).
• Land Records (Khatauni Number & Land Area): Used by the system to verify you are a legitimate landowner and to calculate your specific fertilizer quota (e.g., number of Urea/DAP bags you are eligible for).
• Documents & Photographs (Farmer Photo, Aadhaar, Khatauni): Digital proof of identity and land records (uploaded as images or PDFs) for administrative verification. Your profile photo is also used for face verification during physical fertilizer collection.
• Selected Retailer: To link you to a specific distribution point for inventory and slot management.
• IP Address: Collected automatically during login for security and fraud prevention purposes.

3. Permissions Justification

The App requests certain device permissions to function correctly. We only ask for permissions that are strictly necessary:

• Camera, Storage, and Media (Photos/Videos/Documents): Strictly used to allow you to capture and upload the required Profile, Aadhaar, and Khatauni documents (images or PDFs) during the registration process.
• Location Permissions: Used to display your village on the map or find nearby retailers. We do not track your location in the background.

4. Third-Party Services

We believe in keeping our app lightweight and privacy-focused.

• We do not use third-party analytics trackers (such as Google Analytics or Firebase Analytics).
• We do not use any third-party payment gateways as the App does not process payments.
• We do use standard third-party SMS providers strictly for sending OTPs (One-Time Passwords) for your secure login.
• We do use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) strictly for sending transactional push notifications (e.g., booking approvals). We do not use it for analytics tracking or displaying notification badges.

5. Data Sharing & Selling

We do not share your data with any private third parties. Your information is only shared with:

• Relevant government agricultural bodies to process your fertilizer subsidies and manage quotas.
• Essential service providers (like SMS gateways) purely for operational necessities.

6. User Rights & Data Retention

Your Data Rights

In alignment with prevailing data protection principles (including those under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of India), you maintain the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Access & Information: You have the right to know exactly what personal data we hold about you and how it is being processed within the Urvarak Setu platform.
• Right to Correction (Rectification): If your agricultural data (such as Land Area, Mobile Number, or Khatauni records) is inaccurate or outdated, you have the right to request immediate correction to ensure your fertilizer quotas remain accurate.
• Right to Erasure (Data Deletion): You may request the deletion of your account and personal data. Please note that this right is not absolute; we must balance deletion requests against government compliance mandates regarding subsidy distribution and fraud prevention.
• Right to Grievance Redressal: You have the right to register complaints regarding our data handling practices. All privacy-related grievances will be handled by our dedicated administrative team.

Data Retention Policy

Our data retention lifecycle is strictly dictated by the operational and legal requirements of agricultural subsidy management:

• Indefinite Retention for Audits: Because the Urvarak Setu app facilitates government-regulated fertilizer allocations, transaction histories and core identity data (such as Aadhaar numbers and land records) are retained indefinitely. This is mandatory to facilitate government audits, prevent quota misuse, and maintain historical agricultural ledgers.
• Account Deactivation & Archiving: If you choose to stop using our services and request deletion, your active profile will be deactivated to prevent further logins. However, past fertilizer transaction logs associated with your profile will be securely archived rather than permanently destroyed, as required by law.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of the rights mentioned above, or to initiate a formal data deletion/modification request, please email us directly at vinayak@weknowtech.in. We commit to reviewing and processing your requests within a reasonable timeframe, strictly in accordance with applicable government regulations.

7. Security & Minors

We take the security of your personal and agricultural data very seriously. We employ comprehensive administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your information, including:

• Encryption in Transit: All communications between the mobile app and our servers are encrypted using modern Transport Layer Security (HTTPS/TLS) to prevent data interception.
• Data Localization & Storage: Your data is securely hosted on servers located within India, strictly complying with national data localization guidelines and government requirements.
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Access to sensitive farmer data (including Aadhaar and Khatauni records) is strictly restricted to authorized administrative personnel and government officials on a "need-to-know" basis.
• Vulnerability Management: We regularly monitor our backend systems, APIs, and databases for potential vulnerabilities and unauthorized access attempts to ensure the ongoing confidentiality of your data.
• Incident Response: In the highly unlikely event of a data breach, we have protocols in place to promptly notify affected users and relevant regulatory authorities as mandated by applicable laws (such as the DPDP Act).

Disclaimer: While we implement robust security standards to protect your Personal Data, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security against all sophisticated cyber threats.

Children's Privacy

The Urvarak Setu app is designed exclusively for adult farmers and distributors. It is not intended for individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children. If we discover that a minor has provided us with personal data, we will take immediate steps to delete such information from our servers.

8. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us: