This policy explains what personal data the Odisha Rooftop Gardening (RTG) Portal collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have, including deleting your account. It is written with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 in mind.
1. Who we are
The portal is operated by the ICAR-IIHR Central Horticultural Experiment Station (CHES), Bhubaneswar, under the Government of Odisha's State Plan Scheme for the promotion of rooftop gardening and urban horticulture. CHES decides why and how your personal data is used, and is responsible for it.
2. What we collect
- Account details: name, username, email address, mobile number, address, city, state, PIN code, your role, and an optional profile photo.
- Garden details (Roof Top Gardeners): garden location and map coordinates, area, number and variety of plants, a garden photo, and optional gender, profession and date of birth.
- Business details (vendors): the products or services you describe.
- What you share: product and service listings, News Feed posts, photos, comments, likes and messages.
- Activity: orders, Green Coin transactions, activity points and approval decisions.
- Rooftop Garden Game: the roof outline you draw and your garden's progress.
- Technical data: sign-in session information, and server logs that include IP addresses, kept to keep the portal secure and working.
We ask you to agree to this policy and the Terms and Conditions when you register, and record when you did.
3. How we use it
- To review registrations and run your account.
- To run the marketplace, orders, Green Coins, the News Feed, messaging and the game.
- To send emails about your account, such as approval, password reset and deletion notices.
- To measure the programme's progress, such as gardeners and activity by city, for CHES and the Government of Odisha. Reports use combined figures, not individual contact details.
- To keep the portal secure and to investigate misuse.
We do not sell your personal data, show advertising, or use third-party tracking or analytics.
4. Who can see it
- Anyone: your name, city and activity points on leaderboards (Roof Top Gardeners), and approved listings with the seller's name.
- Signed-in members: your News Feed posts, photos and comments; the people you message or trade with also see the details needed for that conversation or order.
- CHES administrators: all account, garden and activity details, to approve registrations, moderate content, resolve problems and report on the programme.
- Service providers: the hosting and email providers that run the portal for us, only to provide that service. Pages also load fonts and code libraries from public content networks, which receive your IP address as part of any normal web request.
- Authorities: where the law requires it.
5. Photos
When you upload a photo, the portal resizes it and removes its hidden metadata, including the GPS location that phone cameras often record. The photo itself is visible wherever it is used, so avoid uploading pictures that show things you want to keep private.
6. Cookies and browser storage
The portal only uses cookies it needs to work: one that keeps you signed in and one that protects forms against forgery. Your browser also remembers a few conveniences on your device, such as whether the side menu is collapsed and your progress in the public game demo. These never leave your device.
7. How long we keep it
- We keep your data while your account is open.
- When you delete your account, it is hidden at once and erased after 30 days (see Deleting your account).
- After erasure, records of orders and Green Coin transactions are kept without your name or contact details, because the people you traded with and the programme's accounts rely on them. Your city and activity points are kept as anonymous statistics.
- Registration decisions made by administrators are kept as part of the approval record.
- Server logs and backups are kept for a limited time for security and recovery, then overwritten.
8. Your rights
You can:
- See and correct your data: most of it is on My profile, where you can edit it. For anything else, contact us.
- Erase your data and withdraw consent: delete your account yourself at any time (below).
- Nominate someone to exercise these rights for you if you die or become unable to, by writing to us.
- Complain: contact us first (below). If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
9. Deleting your account
- Go to My profile and choose Delete my account. You'll confirm with your password. Accounts with open orders need those orders completed or cancelled first.
- You're signed out everywhere, and your profile, listings, posts and leaderboard place are hidden straight away. We email you a confirmation.
- For 30 days you can sign in and choose Restore my account to get everything back.
- After 30 days, your name, contact details, photos, garden details, posts, comments, messages, listings and game progress are permanently erased. Unused Green Coins, which have no cash value, are lost.
10. Security
The portal uses encrypted connections, hashed passwords, administrator approval for new accounts, and access limited by role. No system is perfectly secure; if we learn of a breach affecting your data, we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires.
11. Children
The portal is meant for adults. You must be 18 or older to register. If you believe a child has registered, contact us and we will remove the account.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the portal or the law changes. We'll change the date at the top, and tell registered members by email about significant changes.
13. Questions and complaints
Write to the CHES RTG Portal team at info@rtgproject.org, or use the Contact page. Include your username so we can find your account. We'll respond as quickly as we can.