Privacy Policy

Pravaha Fellowship (“Pravaha”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share personal information when you visit pravahaeducation.com (“Website”) or interact with Pravaha through our application forms, event registrations, surveys, newsletters and other online or offline channels.

This Policy applies to Website visitors, prospective applicants, applicants, Fellows, faculty members, employees, donors, event attendees, newsletter subscribers and other individuals who interact with Pravaha.

1. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with Pravaha, we may collect:

• Your name, email address, phone number, and address;
• Your date of birth, gender, and photograph;
• Your educational qualifications and employment history;
• Your resume and professional profile;
• Information provided in application forms, including application responses, essays and supporting documents;
• Assessment results and interview notes or recordings;
• Financial information submitted in connection with financial aid;
• Identity documents provided for verification;
• Information about referees, nominators or nominees;
• Information provided through event registrations, enquiries, surveys, feedback forms, and newsletter subscriptions; and
• Any other information that you voluntarily provide to us.

If you provide personal information about another person, such as a referee or nominee, you should ensure that you have their permission to share it with us.

2. Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Website, certain information may be collected automatically, including your IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, pages visited, time spent on the Website and how you arrived at the Website.

At the time of filling up the form of interest, we collect Personal Information which includes, but is not limited to the name, email address, phone number etc. Certain specific information may also be captured on the filling of the form of interest by the user, which includes the phone number of the user, educational details of the user, the location of the user, as well as some descriptive information such as essays, short quiz etc. Such information gathered shall be utilized to ensure greater customer satisfaction, for responding to your queries, improving our website, sending promotional emails, and to comply with legal obligations. 

We may use cookies, analytics services, advertising pixels and similar tracking technologies to understand how the Website is used, improve its performance, measure the effectiveness of our communications and display relevant information or advertisements.

The Website may also contain embedded content, including videos, provided by third parties. These third parties may collect information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functioning of parts of the Website.

3. How We Use Your Information

We may use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and requests;
• Process and evaluate applications to the Pravaha Fellowship;
• Conduct assessments, interviews and admissions-related activities;
• Verify information submitted by applicants;
• Administer the Fellowship and support Fellows during and after the programme;
• Manage relationships with faculty members, employees, donors, partners, and other members of the Pravaha community;
• Organise events, surveys, and outreach activities;
• Send application updates, event invitations, newsletters, and information about Pravaha;
• Contact you through email, telephone, SMS or WhatsApp;
• Support career development, employer engagement, and placement-related activities;
• Conduct research, analysis, and institutional planning;
• Improve and secure the Website and our services;
• Prevent fraud, misuse or unlawful activity;
• Protect the rights, safety and property of Pravaha and others; and
• Meet our legal and regulatory obligations.

Where required by law, we will obtain your consent before collecting or using your personal information for a particular purpose.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell or rent personal information.

Where reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, information may be shared with:

• Employees and authorised representatives of Pravaha;
• Application reviewers, interviewers, faculty members, and academic advisors;
• Technology, communications, analytics, advertising, cloud-storage, and other service providers;
• Fellowship, academic and institutional partners;
• Employers, recruiters and placement partners, where relevant;
• Professional advisors, auditors, and consultants;
• Government, regulatory, judicial or law-enforcement authorities when required by applicable law; and
• Other parties where you have provided consent or asked us to share the information.

Third-party service providers are permitted to access information only to the extent required to provide the relevant service or fulfil the purpose for which the information was shared.

Personal information may be stored using external technology platforms and service providers. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that such information is handled securely and in accordance with applicable law.

5. Communications and Marketing

We may contact you through email, telephone, SMS or WhatsApp regarding your enquiry, application, participation in the Fellowship, Pravaha events or other relevant updates.

You may opt out of promotional communications by using the unsubscribe option provided in an email or by contacting us at admissions@pravahaeducation.com. Even if you opt out of promotional communications, we may continue to send essential administrative or application-related messages.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy or as required under applicable law.

Information relating to individuals who apply but do not join the Fellowship will ordinarily be retained for up to three years after the relevant admissions cycle. General enquiry, event-registration and marketing information may be retained until consent is withdrawn, the individual unsubscribes or the information has been inactive for two years.

Information relating to Fellows and others with an ongoing relationship with Pravaha may be retained for the duration of that relationship and subsequently for as long as reasonably required for academic, administrative, legal or record-keeping purposes.

When personal information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete or anonymise it. Anonymised or aggregated information that does not identify an individual may be retained for research, reporting and institutional planning.

7. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organisational safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

However, no website, online platform or electronic transmission is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Choices and Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may ask us to:

• Provide information about the personal data we hold about you;
• Correct or update inaccurate or incomplete information;
• Delete personal information that is no longer required;
• Withdraw consent previously provided;
• Stop sending promotional communications; or
• Address a concern about how your information has been handled.

Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that took place before the withdrawal. It may, however, affect our ability to process an application or provide a service that requires the relevant information.

Requests may be sent to admissions@pravahaeducation.com. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9. Information About Children

The Pravaha Fellowship and its application process are not intended for individuals under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children without the consent of a parent or lawful guardian where such consent is required.

If we learn that personal information relating to a child has been collected without the required consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

10. Third-Party Websites

The Website may contain links to external websites or services. Pravaha is not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of third-party websites. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services or legal obligations. The revised Policy will be published on this page with an updated effective date.

We encourage you to review this page periodically.

12. Contact Us

For questions, concerns, requests or complaints relating to this Privacy Policy or the use of your personal information, please contact: