This policy governs personal data collected for scholarship eligibility, verification, beneficiary management and fund disbursement. It covers students, parents or guardians, authorized staff, verification agencies and public visitors.

It states alignment with the DPDP Act 2023, GDPR 2016/679, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019.

Sensitive information receives restricted access and enhanced safeguards. The policy states that Aadhaar is optional, tokenized and not stored in plaintext, while bank and financial details are encrypted and masked in portal views.

Personal data is not sold and is not shared with advertisers, marketing firms, social-media platforms or unauthorized organizations.

Registration requires a clear, unticked consent. Separate or fresh consent may be required for sensitive data or a new processing purpose.

• ✓ Access a copy of personal data
• ✓ Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• ✓ Request portable data
• ✓ Restrict processing while accuracy is disputed
• ✓ Request erasure where legally permitted
• ✓ Raise a grievance or appeal a verification finding

Requests are acknowledged within 24 hours and are normally fulfilled within 30 days; complex matters may take longer as permitted by law.

Data may be shared only where necessary with contracted verification agencies, banks or financial institutions, CSR administration teams, cloud infrastructure providers, government bodies or lawful authorities. The policy requires confidentiality, limited access, audit controls and processor agreements.

A verification agency may check education, income, domicile and category evidence and may conduct field verification. Users may ask which agency is involved, request the report, correct inaccurate findings and appeal within 30 days.

The policy describes TLS in transit, encryption at rest, role-based access, masking, audit logs, monitoring, backups, vulnerability management and secure disposal. Retention varies by record: access logs 12 months; support records 24 months after resolution; application and verification records generally 5 years; disbursement records 7 years. Approved scholarship records are listed as lifetime records in the supplied document.

Suspected incidents are contained, sessions or tokens revoked where required, evidence preserved and notifications handled according to applicable law. Report privacy, grievance or security concerns to privacy@shikshavritti.org.

Users must keep passwords private, provide accurate information, use one account per person and report suspected unauthorized access. Fraudulent documents, impersonation, unauthorized access, disruption and illegal activity are prohibited.

A scholarship may be cancelled for fraud, loss of eligibility, insufficient academic progress, misconduct or breach of the agreement. Continued portal use constitutes acceptance of published policy amendments after applicable notice.