1 DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

• "App" means mobile application, iOS application, Android application, web application, website, portal and allied digital services.
• "User" means any person who accesses or uses the App, including readers, authors, poets, publishers, editors, reviewers, contributors, literary researchers, administrators, visitors and other stakeholders.
• "Personal Data" means any data about an individual who is identifiable by or in relation to such data.
• "Content" means books-related information, author information, publisher information, articles, reviews, critiques, biographies, images, videos, literary updates, metadata, posts, submissions, comments, messages or any other literary or cultural information available on or submitted through the App.
• "Contribution" means any information, correction, submission, upload, review, article, description, image, metadata, literary reference or other content submitted by a User through the App.

2 INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT

Depending upon the nature of use and permissions granted by the User, we may collect the following information:

3 PURPOSES OF COLLECTION AND PROCESSING

We collect and process information for the following purposes:

• a) to create, authenticate and manage User accounts;
• b) to enable Users to access literary information, books, authors, publishers, articles, reviews, videos, events and other resources;
• c) to enable Users to submit, edit, correct, review or contribute literary information;
• d) to verify authorship, publisher information, contributor identity or authenticity of submitted content, where required;
• e) to moderate, review, approve, reject, edit, classify or publish User Contributions;
• f) to improve the quality, accuracy, completeness and usefulness of the literary database;
• g) to promote language, literature, reading culture and literary heritage;
• h) to send service notifications, literary updates, event information and administrative communications;
• i) to provide User support and grievance redressal;
• j) to prevent misuse, spam, impersonation, unauthorised access, copyright infringement, offensive content, unlawful activity or security incidents;
• k) to perform analytics, research, reporting, audit, security monitoring and platform improvement;
• l) to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, regulatory directions, court orders or legal obligations;
• m) to enforce applicable terms, community guidelines, intellectual property rights and platform policies.

4 LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING

We process Personal Data on one or more of the following bases, as applicable:

• a) consent provided by the User;
• b) processing necessary for providing the App and related services requested by the User;
• c) processing necessary for legitimate use connected with platform administration, literary database management, security, moderation and public-interest literary documentation;
• d) processing necessary for compliance with applicable law;
• e) processing of voluntarily submitted content intended by the User for publication, display, verification or community use.

This Privacy Policy is intended to be read in accordance with applicable Indian laws, including the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which governs processing of digital personal data in India.

5 PUBLICLY VISIBLE INFORMATION

The User acknowledges that certain information submitted may be displayed publicly on the App, including:

• a) author / poet / publisher / contributor profile information;
• b) book details, metadata, descriptions, genres, publication details and images;
• c) reviews, critiques, ratings, comments, articles, interviews or literary notes;
• d) name or profile of the contributor, where the platform so provides;
• e) event information, literary updates and publicly submitted resources.

Users shall not submit any information for publication unless they have the necessary rights, permissions and authority to do so.

6 USER CONTRIBUTIONS AND CONTENT RESPONSIBILITY

Users submitting Contributions shall ensure that:

• a) the submitted information is accurate to the best of their knowledge;
• b) the Contribution does not infringe copyright, trademark, privacy, personality rights or any other rights of third parties;
• c) the Contribution is not defamatory, obscene, hateful, misleading, unlawful or otherwise objectionable;
• d) the User has obtained necessary permission for uploading photographs, book covers, extracts, documents or third-party content;
• e) the Contribution may be reviewed, edited, moderated, classified, published, unpublished or removed by MKCL Knowledge Foundation at its discretion.

MKCL Knowledge Foundation may preserve records of Contributions, edits, reviews and moderation actions for audit, security, accountability and platform integrity.

7 CHILDREN AND MINORS

8 SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

We may share information on a need-to-know basis with:

• a) authorised employees, officers, consultants and representatives of MKCL Knowledge Foundation;
• b) technical service providers, hosting providers, cloud service providers, analytics providers, communication providers and security service providers;
• c) moderators, editors, reviewers, project coordinators or content-verification teams;
• d) authors, publishers, literary bodies, institutions, libraries or partners, where required for verification, correction, publication or literary collaboration;
• e) payment service providers, if any paid services are introduced in future;
• f) government authorities, courts, law enforcement agencies or competent authorities, where required by law;
• g) auditors, legal advisers and professional consultants, where necessary;
• h) successor entities or assignees in case of lawful restructuring, transfer or reorganisation of the project or platform.

We shall not sell Personal Data of Users to advertisers or unrelated third parties.

9 THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES

10 DATA SECURITY

We shall implement reasonable technical, physical and organisational measures to protect Personal Data against unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, disclosure, loss or destruction.

Such measures may include:

• a) role-based access control;
• b) secure authentication;
• c) protected transmission and storage practices;
• d) logging and monitoring;
• e) malware, spam and abuse prevention;
• f) restricted administrative access;
• g) confidentiality obligations for personnel and service providers.

The approach is consistent with confidentiality and data-security obligations seen in its documents, including clauses requiring protection of proprietary information, controlled processing of data, breach reporting and return / deletion of data on termination.

However, no internet-based or mobile-based platform can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Users are responsible for maintaining confidentiality of their login credentials and for not sharing access to their accounts.

11 DATA RETENTION

We shall retain Personal Data and platform records only for such period as may be necessary for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy, including:

• a) account management;
• b) content publication and moderation;
• c) literary database continuity;
• d) verification of Contributions;
• e) audit, security and fraud prevention;
• f) legal compliance;
• g) dispute resolution;
• h) archival, cultural, literary or public-interest documentation.

Public literary records, book metadata, author information, publisher information, articles, reviews, event records and cultural-heritage content may be retained for longer periods where necessary for the continuity and purpose of the Platform.

12 ACCOUNT DELETION AND DATA DELETION

Users may request deletion of their account by writing to the contact details provided in this Privacy Policy or by using the account deletion mechanism made available within the App, where applicable.

Upon receiving such request, we shall process the request in accordance with applicable law and platform requirements. Certain information may be retained where necessary for:

• – legal compliance;
• – security and fraud prevention;
• – dispute resolution;
• – audit and moderation history;
• – public literary records or Contributions already reviewed, integrated, published, relied upon or archived;
• – protection of intellectual property rights and platform integrity.

Where deletion of a public Contribution is not feasible or appropriate, we may anonymise, de-identify, archive or restrict display of the User's Personal Data, as may be appropriate.

13 USER RIGHTS

Subject to applicable law and verification of identity, Users may request:

• a) access to their Personal Data;
• b) correction or updation of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Data;
• c) withdrawal of consent, where processing is based on consent;
• d) deletion of Personal Data, subject to lawful retention requirements;
• e) grievance redressal regarding processing of Personal Data;
• f) nomination of another individual to exercise rights in case of death or incapacity, where applicable under law.

Withdrawal of consent or deletion of data may affect the User's ability to use account-based features, contribution tools, publisher dashboards, saved preferences, notifications or other personalised services.

14 COOKIES, ANALYTICS AND APP USAGE DATA

The App may use cookies, SDKs, analytics tools or similar technologies for:

• a) login session management;
• b) remembering User preferences;
• c) improving search, recommendations and user experience;
• d) crash reporting and diagnostics;
• e) security monitoring;
• f) usage analytics;
• g) performance improvement.

Users may manage certain choices through browser settings, device settings, app settings or app store privacy controls.

15 APP STORE PRIVACY DISCLOSURE

For the purposes of Apple App Store and Google Play Store privacy disclosure, the App may collect or process the following categories of data depending upon the features used:

• a) contact information, such as name, email address and mobile number;
• b) identifiers, such as user ID, app instance ID or device identifiers;
• c) user content, such as profile information, reviews, articles, comments, images, book information or submitted literary data;
• d) usage data, such as app interactions, pages viewed and features used;
• e) diagnostics, such as crash logs and performance data;
• f) approximate location, where location-based features are enabled;
• g) search history or reading / browsing preferences within the App, where such features are enabled.

The App does not use Personal Data for sale to advertisers.

16 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

17 DATA BREACH AND INCIDENT MANAGEMENT

18 CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

19 CONTACT AND GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL

For any privacy-related query, request, complaint or grievance, Users may contact:

Users are requested to mention their name, registered email address / mobile number, account details, and clear description of the request or grievance.

20 GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION