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Privacy Policy

Effective Date: October 28, 2026

Paavan Chintan Dhara Ashram ("we", "our", "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you visit our website or become a member. We comply with applicable Indian data protection laws, including the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for members located in the European Union.

Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register for membership, make a donation, or contact us. This may include:

  • Your full name, address, email address, and phone number (including WhatsApp number)
  • Payment information processed through our payment gateway
  • Government-issued identity document type (such as Aadhaar, PAN, Passport, or Driving Licence), your document identification number, and scanned images of the front and back of your identity document, collected for KYC and identity verification purposes
  • Your phone number, used as your primary login identifier via OTP-based authentication
  • Any additional information you voluntarily provide during registration or communication with us

Identity Document Handling

As part of the membership registration process, we collect your government-issued identity document details and scanned images (front and back) solely for the purpose of identity verification. These documents are stored securely on our servers with access restricted to authorised Ashram administrators only. We do not share, sell, or disclose your identity documents to any third party, except where required to comply with applicable law or regulatory obligations.

Identity document images are retained for the duration of your active membership and for a reasonable period thereafter in accordance with legal requirements. You may request correction or deletion of your document data through the Privacy & Data section of your member dashboard.

How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Process your membership registration and donations
  • Verify your identity through OTP-based authentication sent to your registered phone number
  • Communicate with you regarding Ashram activities, programs, and updates via email, SMS, and WhatsApp
  • Send you receipts, tax exemption certificates (if applicable), and other membership-related documents
  • Generate and issue your digital membership card, QR code, and any certificates associated with your membership
  • Improve our services and website experience
  • Comply with legal and regulatory obligations

Third-Party Payment Processing

Payments on this platform are securely processed through Razorpay, a third-party payment gateway. We do not store your card, UPI, or net banking credentials on our servers. All payment data transmitted during a transaction is handled by Razorpay in accordance with their own privacy policy and applicable PCI-DSS security standards. We encourage you to review Razorpay's Privacy Policy for details on how your payment data is handled.

Cookies, and How We Measure Our Links and Ads

Cookies this site always uses. A session cookie that keeps you signed in and protects the forms you submit, and a cookie that remembers your answer to the ad-cookie notice. These are needed for the site to work and identify nobody outside it.

Only if you press Accept on the ad-cookie notice. The ashram notes, in a cookie of its own kept for up to 30 days, which of its links, posts or ads brought you here, together with the code an advertising platform adds to its own ad links, and whether you then joined, booked or donated. This is used for one purpose only: to see which of our links and ads work. This site then also loads measurement code from Meta. These companies set their own cookies in your browser and learn about your visit and, when you pay, the amount. If you reached us from one of their ads and then paid, we may also tell that platform that the payment happened, using the platform's own click code. We never give any of them your name, phone number or email address. If you decline, nothing is noted or loaded, and the site works exactly the same.

Your answer is kept as proof. We record what you chose, when, and which version of the notice you saw, under a random code stored in your own browser — nothing that identifies you. Your answer is remembered for 180 days; after that, or when the notice changes, you are asked again.

Changing your mind. Use Ad cookie choices at the foot of every page and press Decline. From the next page on, nothing more is noted or loaded, and the platforms' cookies are removed from this site. Questions or complaints about this: pcd@ashrampcd.com. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you may also complain to the Data Protection Board of India.

Our short links. Some of our links, on posters, in messages and in ads, are short links on pcd.onl, the ashram's own link shortener, which sends you on to this site. When you open one, pcd.onl records the time, the page you came from, your browser, your IP address and the country it points to, and counts the click. This happens on pcd.onl before you reach this site, so before the ad-cookie notice, and your answer to the notice does not change it. It is kept on the ashram's own server, used to see how many people each link brought, and never given to an advertising platform.

WhatsApp & SMS Communications

By registering as a member and providing your phone number, you consent to receiving communications from us via SMS and WhatsApp. These communications may include OTP verification codes, membership confirmations, payment receipts, Ashram activity updates, and important notices. You may contact us at pcd@ashrampcd.com to opt out of non-essential communications.

Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal information, including your identity documents and payment-related data. However, please note that no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your Data Protection Rights

In accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 (India) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

  • Right to Access: You can request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Portability: You can request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
  • Right to Rectification: You can request corrections to any inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to Erasure: You can request deletion of your personal data (right to be forgotten), subject to legal retention obligations.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You can request we limit how we use your data.
  • Right to Object: You can object to certain types of data processing.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: You can withdraw your consent to data processing at any time.

To exercise your data protection rights:
Members can sign in to their dashboard and visit the Privacy & Data section to:

  • Request a complete export of your data
  • Request account deletion
  • Request data corrections
  • View your consent history

All requests are processed within 30 days.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information, including identity documents, for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Payment and transaction records are retained for 7 years in compliance with Indian tax laws.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at:
Email: pcd@ashrampcd.com
Phone: 9412218956