Cookie Policy | hwthinking.in

This page explains what cookies and similar technologies hwthinking.in uses, why, on what legal basis, and how you can change your mind. It is written to satisfy the EU ePrivacy Directive (Article 5(3)), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the UK GDPR / PECR. It applies to every visitor; the consent banner is shown where the law requires it. The short version: there is one optional cookie set on this site, it belongs to Google Analytics, and nothing here is used for advertising.

1. Who is responsible

1.1

hwthinking.in is a mentoring platform owned and managed by Tranquil Light Foundation (TLF), Nagpur, India, which receives every payment made on it and is the data controller for the processing described here. Contact: tlf@tranquillight.org.

2. What a cookie is

2.1

A cookie is a small text file a website stores in your browser so it can recognise you on later requests. "Similar technologies" here means browser local storage, which works the same way but is never sent to a server automatically. This policy covers both.

3. The cookies we use

3.1

Strictly necessary — always on, no consent needed. These are required to provide something you have explicitly asked for, and the law exempts them from consent.

hwt_consent (local storage, hwthinking.in) — remembers the choice you made on the cookie banner, with a timestamp and the version of this policy you saw. Kept for 6 months, then we ask again. Never sent anywhere.
hwt_geo (local storage, hwthinking.in) — remembers the country code used to decide whether to show the banner, so we do not look it up on every page. Kept for 30 days. Contains a two-letter country code only.
Razorpay checkout (cookies on razorpay.com) — set only while you complete a payment you started on our booking page, to run the checkout securely and prevent fraud. Governed by Razorpay's own policy at razorpay.com/privacy. We do not read these.

3.2

Analytics — optional, only with your consent. Google Analytics 4 (property G-3QBKNTY8HB), provided by Google LLC. It tells us which pages people read, roughly where visitors come from, and whether a visit led to a booking. We use it to decide what to write and what to improve. It is not used for advertising, remarketing, or building profiles, and advertising features are switched off in our configuration.

_ga — distinguishes one visitor from another using a random identifier. Expires after 2 years.
_ga_3QBKNTY8HB — keeps the pages of one visit together as a session. Expires after 2 years.

3.3

We have no advertising, social-media, or other third-party tracking cookies. There is no Facebook pixel, no LinkedIn insight tag, and no ad network on this site.

4. How consent works here

4.1

Nothing is set before you decide. If you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, the Google Analytics script is not loaded at all until you choose "Accept analytics". Until then no analytics cookie exists and no data is sent to Google — not even an anonymous ping.

4.2

Rejecting is as easy as accepting. The banner offers "Accept analytics" and "Reject" as equal buttons on the first screen. There is no pre-ticked box, and you can use every part of the site whichever you choose. Choosing nothing is treated as a rejection.

4.3

Withdrawing is as easy as giving. Use the "Cookie settings" link at the bottom of any page to change your choice. Switching analytics off deletes the Google Analytics cookies from your browser immediately and stops any further collection. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of collection that happened while consent was in place.

4.4

Where the banner is shown. We use the country your request arrives from, as reported by our hosting provider, to decide whether consent is legally required. Outside those regions analytics is on by default and the same "Cookie settings" control is available to switch it off. If your country cannot be determined, we show the banner.

4.5

Your choice is recorded in your browser only (see 3.1) — what you chose, when, and which version of this policy applied. We keep no server-side register of individual consent decisions. We ask again after 6 months, or sooner if this policy changes in a way that affects your choice.

5. Legal basis and your rights

5.1

Analytics cookies are set on the basis of your consent (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a); ePrivacy Directive Art. 5(3)). Strictly necessary cookies are exempt from consent and are used on the basis of our legitimate interest in operating the site and processing payments you have requested (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f) and (b)).

5.2

You have the right to access, correct or erase personal data we hold, to object to or restrict its processing, to data portability, and to complain to your supervisory authority. Requests: tlf@tranquillight.org. Our full Privacy Policy is at /privacy/.

6. Google Analytics: what is sent, and where

6.1

With consent, your browser sends Google the pages you view, interactions such as opening a service card or starting a checkout, an anonymised approximation of your location, and your device and browser type. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. Google processes this on our behalf under the Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which include the EU Standard Contractual Clauses; Google LLC is also certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

6.2

Completed bookings. When a payment succeeds, our server records the purchase in Google Analytics so that revenue is counted regardless of how you paid. If you consented to analytics, this event is linked to your visit. If you did not consent, it is sent without any link to your browser or session and with the payment reference replaced by a one-way hash, so Google receives an amount and a service name it cannot connect to you.

6.3

Google's own description of how it uses data from sites that use its services is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. Data retention in our Analytics property is set to 14 months.

7. Controlling cookies in your browser

7.1

Independently of our banner, every browser lets you view, block, and delete cookies and site storage. Blocking strictly necessary storage will prevent the banner from remembering your choice and may interfere with checkout. Guides: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge.

8. Changes to this policy

8.1

If we add a cookie that needs consent, we will update this page, raise the policy version, and the banner will ask everyone again. Minor wording changes will be posted here with a new effective date without re-prompting.

9. Contact

Questions about cookies or this policy:

Tranquil Light Foundation
Plot No. 11, Pallavi GNS, New Somalwada
B/H Narendra Nagar, Vivekanand Nagar S.O
Nagpur (Urban), Maharashtra 440015, India
tlf@tranquillight.org
Phone / WhatsApp: +91 90284 39973

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