Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and the entity that operates the Bharat Survey platform (“Bharat Survey”, “we”, “us”). By creating an account, accepting an invitation or using the service, you agree to them. If you use Bharat Survey on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these terms for it, and “you” means that organisation. Where a signed order form or service agreement exists, it prevails over these terms if the two differ.

2. The service

Bharat Survey is a field survey platform. It lets an organisation (the client) design survey forms, organise teams, assign areas to field volunteers or enumerators, collect responses offline with GPS evidence on a phone, review quality and view results and reports in a web panel.

• Clients are the organisations that subscribe: agencies, companies, NGOs, government departments, candidates and campaigns.
• Users are the people a client invites: owners, admins, supervisors, reviewers, viewers and volunteers.
• Respondents are the people who answer a survey. They do not need an account.

We may improve, change or retire features over time. If a change removes something important you depend on, we will tell you in advance.

3. Accounts and access

• Users sign in with a one-time code (OTP) sent to their mobile number or email. Keep your device and codes to yourself; you are responsible for activity under your account.
• The client’s owner and admins decide who is invited, which role each user has and which areas they can see. Remove access promptly when someone leaves your team.
• Accounts are only for people aged 18 or over.
• Tell us at support@bharatsurvey.org straight away if you suspect unauthorised access.

4. Survey data: your responsibilities under the DPDP Act 2023

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the client is the Data Fiduciary for survey data (answers, photos, contact details and location evidence) and Bharat Survey is the Data Processor. We process that data only on your instructions and to provide the service, as described in our Privacy Policy.

As the client, you are responsible for:

• Having a lawful purpose for every survey and collecting only the data that purpose needs.
• Giving respondents a clear notice and obtaining their free, informed consent through the consent screen, in a language they understand, and respecting a refusal.
• Obtaining separate consent before collecting contact details, and verifiable parental consent before any data about a child is collected.
• Answering respondents’ requests to access, correct or erase their data, and their grievances. We will help you do this.
• Training your volunteers to behave courteously and honestly, and making sure they follow these terms.
• Complying with every law that applies to your survey, including election law and the instructions of the Election Commission of India where relevant.

5. Acceptable use

Bharat Survey is neutral: it serves organisations of every kind and of every political view on the same terms. Whoever you are, you must not use the service to:

• Intimidate, threaten, coerce or pressure any voter or respondent, or offer anything in exchange for their vote or answers.
• Build unlawful profiles of individuals, or target, exclude or discriminate against people because of their religion, caste, community, gender or political opinion.
• Track the location of respondents or voters, or monitor anyone without their knowledge.
• Collect data under a false identity or a misleading purpose, or fabricate interviews.
• Send spam or unsolicited political or commercial messages using data collected through the service.
• Upload unlawful, defamatory or hateful content, malware, or content that infringes someone else’s rights.
• Try to break into, overload, reverse-engineer or get around the security of the service, or access another client’s data.
• Resell or share access to the service without our written permission.

We may review, pause or remove a form, a question or an account that breaks these rules. Sensitive questions (such as religion, caste or political leaning) need our approval before they go live and must always be optional for respondents.

6. Fees, GST and invoices

• Fees are as per your plan or written quotation. Plans are usually based on seats (active volunteers) and the period of use.
• We raise GST-compliant tax invoices. Fees are exclusive of GST and other applicable taxes, which are added at the prevailing rate. Give us your correct GSTIN and billing details so you can claim input tax credit.
• Invoices are payable by the due date shown on them. If payment is overdue, we may remind you and, after notice, limit the account to read-only until it is paid.
• Unless your quote says otherwise, fees already paid are not refundable, except where the law requires a refund or we end the service without cause.
• For quotes and plan changes, write to sales@bharatsurvey.org.

7. Suspension and termination

• You may stop using the service at any time. Paid plans end at the close of the current billing period unless your agreement says otherwise.
• We may suspend a user, a form or an account immediately if there is a serious breach of these terms (especially section 5), a security risk, or a legal order. Where we can, we will tell you why and give you a chance to fix it.
• We may end the service for a material breach that is not fixed within 15 days of notice, or for non-payment after notice.
• When the service ends, your panel becomes read-only and your data stays available for export as described below.

8. Data retention, export and deletion

• Your survey data belongs to you. You can export it (for example to CSV or Excel) at any time while your account is active, subject to your users’ role permissions.
• We do not delete survey data, location trails or photos automatically. They are kept for as long as your account or contract lasts, and afterwards as needed for legal, audit and client export purposes. After a plan ends, data stays read-only and you can ask us to export it later.
• We delete or anonymise data when you (the Data Fiduciary) instruct us in writing, or on a valid request under the DPDP Act. Deleted data leaves our backups once the backup cycle completes.
• Volunteer location trails are collected only during shifts.
• Details you send through our website forms are kept only to respond to you and are never sold or shared for advertising; ask us any time to delete them.
• We may keep audit logs, invoices and records we are required to keep by law for as long as the law requires.

9. Our commitments

• We keep each client’s data separate, host it in India, encrypt it and restrict staff access as described in the Privacy Policy.
• We work to keep the service available and to fix problems quickly, but we do not promise it will be uninterrupted or error-free. Planned maintenance is announced in advance where possible.
• We will notify you without undue delay if a personal data breach affects your data, and help you meet your own obligations.

10. Intellectual property

The platform, app, software, design and the Bharat Survey name and marks belong to us or our licensors. You get a limited, non-transferable right to use the service during your subscription. Your survey forms, content and data remain yours; you give us permission to host and process them only to run the service for you.

11. Limitation of liability

• The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. Survey results are statistical and depend on how a survey is designed and run; decisions you make using them are your own.
• To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential losses, or for loss of profit, revenue, goodwill or data caused by events outside our reasonable control.
• To the extent the law allows, our total liability arising out of the service in any 12 months is limited to the fees you paid us for the service in those 12 months.
• Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under Indian law.
• You will compensate us for losses caused by your breach of section 4 or 5, or by your unlawful use of the service.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. Changes will be published here with a new effective date and version. For significant changes we will tell clients by email or in the panel at least 15 days before they apply. If you keep using the service after that, the new terms apply.

13. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of India. We will first try to settle any dispute through good-faith discussion. Subject to that, the courts at the place named in your service agreement (or, if none is named, at our registered office) have exclusive jurisdiction.

14. Grievance officer and contact

A grievance officer will be appointed and their name and contact details published here before launch. Until then, send complaints to support@bharatsurvey.org with the subject “Grievance”. We will acknowledge within 48 hours and reply within 30 days.

• Support and grievances: support@bharatsurvey.org
• Sales, plans and quotes: sales@bharatsurvey.org
• General enquiries: info@bharatsurvey.org