Evidence on rights and entitlements, collected without putting respondents at risk
Bharat Survey is a survey agency for human rights and social justice NGOs, legal aid networks and research groups. We run surveys on access to justice, labour conditions, welfare entitlements and discrimination in services, with safeguarding built into sampling, consent, interview setting and data storage. Findings are reported in aggregate, and no respondent can be identified from what we hand over.
- Access-to-justice and legal aid surveys
- Entitlement and grievance redress studies
- Labour conditions research with informal workers
- Safeguarding, anonymity and restricted data access
Hello, I am Ram Kumar. This survey is run by Sample Organisation. Purpose: to learn about amenities in your area. It is voluntary, and you can say no at any time.
In most surveys, a data leak is embarrassing. In rights research, it can cost someone a job, a home or their safety.
So the design starts from risk. Who could be harmed if this person is seen talking to us? Who is nearby during the interview? What happens to the phone if it is lost? We answer those questions before we write the questionnaire, and they shape the sample, the interview location and the fields we choose not to collect.
Legal and ethical footing
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and its 2025 Rules set duties for handling personal data, including notice and consent. For studies touching health or other sensitive areas, we also follow the ICMR national ethical guidelines on consent and vulnerable participants. Questions on caste, religion or identity are asked only where the study's purpose requires them, framed neutrally and kept optional.
Fields we avoid by default
- Full names and phone numbers
- Exact addresses
- Aadhaar or ID numbers
- Photos of respondents
- Employer names in open text
Open a layer to see how each study type protects the people it studies.
Access-to-justice surveys
Awareness of free legal aid, experience with police and courts, and barriers such as cost, distance and fear, asked in private settings with trained interviewers of the respondent's preferred gender.
- Private interview space
- Referral card for legal aid
- No case details recorded
Welfare entitlement and grievance studies
Whether eligible households receive rations, pensions, wages or scholarships, and what happened when they complained. Useful for social audits and advocacy based on patterns, not individuals.
- Eligibility and receipt questions
- Grievance attempt history
- Village-level aggregate reports
Data collection app for Human Rights and Social Justice NGOs
Your field staff can collect case-free monitoring data on encrypted Android devices, with role-based access so only named analysts see raw records and nothing stays on the phone after sync.
- Role-based access
- Records removed from device after sync
- Audit log of data exports
Our position
Rights programmes often aim at awareness, confidence to claim entitlements, and institutional response. A baseline should measure all three: what people know, what they have tried, and what happened when they tried. Repeating the same questions after the programme shows whether change happened at the household level, the institutional level, or neither.
- Knowledge of rights and where to go
- Attempts to claim or complain
- Outcome of those attempts
- Perceived safety in doing so
Structured survey
When you need prevalence
- Answers how many and how often
- Needs a defined population and sample
- Short, closed questions
- Strong for advocacy with numbers
In-depth interviews
When you need the story
- Answers how and why
- Small, purposive samples
- Trained qualitative researchers
- Strong for understanding barriers
Not the right fit if
- Investigating individual cases or collecting evidence for litigation
- Surveys that require identifying perpetrators or victims
- Sharing respondent data with authorities or employers
- Studies designed to reach a predetermined conclusion
A good fit if
- Prevalence surveys with strong safeguards
- Entitlement access and grievance studies
- Baselines and endlines for rights programmes
- Secure data collection tools for your teams
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
How do you keep respondents anonymous?
We do not collect names, phone numbers or exact addresses unless the design needs a follow-up visit, and then identifiers are stored separately from answers with restricted access. Reports use aggregates, and small groups are suppressed so no individual can be recognised.
Who conducts interviews on sensitive topics?
Trained interviewers who speak the respondent's language, with the interviewer's gender matched where the topic calls for it. They learn to stop an interview if privacy is lost or the respondent becomes distressed, and they carry referral information for support services.
Can you survey informal and migrant workers?
Yes, usually at worker settlements, transit points or through community organisations, at times that do not cost workers wages. We avoid interviewing at worksites or in the presence of contractors or employers.
Will you share findings with government bodies?
Only what you, as the commissioning organisation, choose to share, and only in aggregate. Raw data is not shared with authorities, employers or any third party by us.
Tell us the population, the risks you see and the decisions the evidence should inform.