Privacy Policy

This Platform is owned by VDK Eduventures Pvt Ltd, operating under the name of Drishti IAS. This Privacy Policy pertains to the services made available at http://www.drishtiias.com (hereinafter "Drishti IAS Website") and its equivalent Drishti Learning Mobile Application (hereinafter "Drishti Learning App") available on Google Play, Windows Store or Apple Store. The Drishti Learning App and Drishti IAS Website, on which the services are availed, will be hereinafter collectively referred to as Platform. For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, wherever the context so requires Your, You, Yourself or User shall mean any natural or legal person who browses the Platform or has agreed to become a Subscriber to the services available on the Platform, by providing login credentials while registering on our Platform as a Subscribed User using the Computer/Mobile/Tablet or/and other devices or systems. The term We, Us, Our shall mean VDK Eduventures Pvt Ltd or the Company.

We would like to safeguard the information you provide to us about yourself. This Privacy Policy is designed to tell you about our practices regarding collection, use, and disclosure of information that you may provide via this Platform. Please be sure to read this entire Privacy Policy before using, or submitting information, to this Platform. Use of this Platform constitutes your consent to our Privacy Policy. By using this Platform, you agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy. Whenever you submit information via this Platform, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

What is Personal Information and why do we collect it?

"Personal Information" may mean any information that may be used to identify an individual, including, but not limited to, a first and last name, a home or other physical and virtual addresses like an email address or any other contact information, that we may require.

The personal information that we collect is to identify you and to ensure that we provide you with the correct feedback that you require for performance in various tests, thus, to help you get superior quality educational feedback. The information collected enables us to give you convenient access to our services, offerings and products, and may help us tailor your educational experience.

What Personal Information do we collect and how do we use it?

We collect the following information from/about you :

1. The Information you Share: You share your details like your name, email address, and other personal information like contact details to use certain features of our Platform. We may also ask for this information at other times, such as when you enter contests or other promotions sponsored by us and/or our partners. If you use a feature that requires payment of a fee, we collect your credit card data or payment account information. When you use one of our paid products, we track the web pages, and information that has been accessed by you, and store it on our servers. This enables us to track items that you have completed, and those that you need to see.

2. Cookies & other tracking technologies: Some of our web pages utilize "cookies" and other tracking technologies. A "cookie" is a small text file that may be used, for example, to collect information about your Platform activity. Some cookies and other technologies may serve to recall personal information previously indicated by a web user. It is on you to set most browsers to notify if you receive a cookie, or if you may choose to block cookies from your browser, but please note that if you choose to erase or block your cookies, you will need to re-enter your original user ID and password to gain access to certain parts of the Platform and some sections of the Platform would not work. Tracking technologies may record information such as internet domain and host names; internet protocol (IP) addresses; browser software and operating system types; click stream patterns; and dates and times that our site is accessed through. Our use of cookies and other tracking technologies allows us to improve our web site and your web experience. We may also analyse information that does not contain personal information for trends and statistics.

2. Log information: When you access our website, the server automatically records information that your browser sends us. These server logs may include information such as your web request, internet protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

3. User communications: When you send email or other communication to us, we may retain those communications in order to process your enquiries, respond to your requests and improve our services.

4. Links: We may present links in a format that enables us to keep track of whether these links have been followed or not? We use this information to improve our customized content. Clicking on links may take you to Websites/Platforms outside our domain. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other Websites/Platforms. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every Website/Platform that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by our Platform.

5. Alerts: We may alert you by Emails / Phone Calls / SMSs / Whatsapp Messages if we update our Platform in a way that we believe you should know about. These alerts are usually prompted by new features on the Platform, or substantial improvements in the products and offers made by us.

6. Public Forums: When you use certain features on our website like the discussion forums and you post or share your personal information such as comments, messages, files, photos, it will be available to all users, and will be in the public domain. All such sharing of information is done at your own risk. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in your profile or when posting on our forums this information may become publicly available.

7. Data Security: If you use a feature requiring payment of a fee, we transmit your credit card data to our bank for processing. If we encounter a problem with payment, we may review the order information with you and our bank to resolve it. We do not otherwise disclose your credit card information. We do not share your email address or your personal information with third party marketers.

8. How do we use the data: We offer secure pages to collect sensitive information on our order form, such as credit card information. We also use administrative, physical and technical precautions to help protect the confidentiality, security and integrity of personal information stored on our system. We host the site at a commercial-grade data center that employs extensive security practices. While no computer system is completely secure, we believe the measures implemented by our Platform reduce the likelihood of security problems to a level appropriate to the type of data involved.

What we do with the information we gather?

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:
1) Internal record keeping.
2) We may use the information to improve our products and services.
3) We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.
4) From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax, Whatsapp or mail.
5) We may use the information to customise the Platform according to your interests.

For how Long Do We Retain User Data?

Currently, we are in the practice of retaining user data while an account is active and for at least three years afterwards. We may alter this practice according to legal and business requirements. For example, we may lengthen the retention period for some data if needed to comply with law or voluntary codes of conduct. Unless otherwise prohibited, we may shorten the retention period for some types of data if needed to free up storage space.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information remains secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. However, no data transmissions over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or warranty the security of any information you transmit to us via the internet, and you do so at your own risk. Once we have received your transmission, we will use our best efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

Children

We do not contact children under age 13 about special offers or for marketing purposes without a parent's permission.

Links to other Platforms

Our Platform may contain links to other Platforms of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our Platform, you should note that we do not have any control over those other Platforms. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such Platforms and such Platforms are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the Platform in question.

Third Party Services

Third parties provide certain services that are available on our Platform. We may provide information, including Personal Information to third-party service providers to help us deliver programmes, products, information and services. Service providers are also an important means by which We maintain our Platform and mailing lists. We are in practice of taking reasonable steps to ensure that these third-party service providers are obligated to protect Personal Information on our behalf.

We do not intend to transfer Personal Information without your consent to third parties who are not bound to act on our behalf unless such transfer is legally required. Similarly, it is against our policy to sell Personal Information collected online without consent. We may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information, such as the number of users subscribed to a particular product, or the number of users registered on our website. Such information does not identify you individually.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
1) Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the Platform, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
2) if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at [email protected]

Copyright

All information displayed, transmitted or carried on Platform (which means www.drishtiias.com and Drishti Learning App) is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not, under any circumstances, modify, publish, distribute, repost, perform, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content on this web Platform.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy, you may contact us by Clicking the "Contact Us" tab on the landing page of Drishti Learning App or on the menu tab of website (www.drishtiias.com).

Changes to this Policy

Any changes in this Policy will be updated & posted on this Platform. Please check back periodically, and especially before you provide any personally identifiable information.

Your Consent to This Policy

By accessing our Platform, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This document supersedes any prior communication on this topic and reflects the entire and exclusive Privacy Policy for this Platform. This Policy is subject to our Terms of Use, which take precedence over any conflicting Policy provision. We may change our Policy by posting a new version of it on our site.