Terms of Participation & Donor Charter

1.1 Legal Status: I Plant for You (IP4U) is a non-profit agro-forestry and smallholder farmer livelihood initiative established and managed exclusively by Sarvajana Sneha Charitable Trust (SSCT), a registered public charitable trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, registered in 2004 with Registration Number 322 of 2004.

1.2 Registered Head Office: Sarvajana Sneha Charitable Trust, Central Administrative Office, Vijayawada, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

1.3 Statutory Registrations:

1.4 Non-Commercial Mission: SSCT functions as an environmental, rural welfare, and educational non-profit organization. Donations received via the IP4U platform are strictly allocated to project execution, nursery procurement, sapling transportation, farmer assistance, field monitoring, and digital tracking infrastructure.

2.1 Definitions: In these Terms, unless the context requires otherwise:

2.2 Dual Classification Coverage: These terms contain specific operational and statutory provisions governing both Individual Donors and Corporate CSR Partners, as explicitly delineated in each respective section.

3.3 Account Security: All donors are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their portal credentials. Any action performed through an authenticated account session shall be deemed authorized by the account holder.

4.1 Nature of Contribution: All payments made to sponsor saplings constitute irrevocable, non-refundable charitable contributions to SSCT. The sponsorship fee covers the complete multi-year lifecycle, including high-grade nursery sapling procurement, organic compost and soil amendments, secure transportation, field planting, baseline geo-tagging, ongoing farmer organic nutrient support, biannual field inspections, and digital portal maintenance.

4.2 Currency and Payment Gateways: All transactions are denominated and processed in Indian Rupees (INR).

4.3 Fund Allocation & Statutory Non-Refundability: Once a donation transaction is confirmed, funds are committed to nursery propagation and field operations. Consequently, cancellations, reversals, or refund requests cannot be entertained under any circumstances, save for duplicate automated billing errors verified by our finance cell.

5.1 Individual Dedication Notes: Individual Donors may submit a personalized dedication message (e.g., in memory of deceased relatives, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, or cultural occasions). Dedications are displayed on the digital Living Tree Passport and publicly viewable QR passport page.

5.2 Corporate Dedications & CSR Co-Branding: Corporate Partners may designate tree batches under official corporate project titles, CSR sustainability themes, employee recognition programs, or client appreciation campaigns.

5.3 Content Moderation Standards: SSCT maintains an absolute right to reject, redact, or delete any dedication text that contains defamatory, political, hateful, obscene, racially discriminatory, or unlawful content.

5.4 Intellectual Property Representation: Corporate Partners warrant that any company names, brand marks, or program titles provided for tree tagging do not infringe third-party intellectual property rights and grant SSCT a non-exclusive license to display the corporate name on project documentation and digital passports.

6.1 Sourcing and Seasonal Planting Cycles: Saplings are sourced from certified regional horticulture nurseries. Allocation and field planting occur during optimal agro-climatic seasonal windows (Monsoon and Post-Monsoon cycles). Sapling allocation to a designated beneficiary farmer is typically completed within 45 business days of donation confirmation.

6.2 Nursery Species Substitution Policy: While SSCT endeavors to plant the precise horticulture species requested at checkout, agricultural circumstances (such as nursery stock disease, rootstock unavailability, or district-specific agro-climatic advisories) may necessitate substituting a species with a horticultural fruit tree of equivalent or superior economic and ecological value. Donors will be notified of any substitution on their dashboard.

6.3 Baseline Identification & Geo-Tagging: Following plantation, each tree is assigned a standardized registry code (e.g., IP4U-VJA-2026-0042), recorded with high-precision GPS satellite coordinates, and documented with an inaugural baseline photograph.

7.1 Physical Field Audits: SSCT Field Animators conduct systematic physical field inspections of all sponsored trees. Growth parameters—including tree height, trunk girth, canopy health, pest status, and flowering status—are digitally audited and recorded on the platform.

7.2 Digital Tree Passports: Donors have continuous access to digital Tree Passports providing chronological growth logs, field inspector notes, updated photographs, and regional weather logs.

7.3 Tree Mortality Protocol & Transparent Re-Sponsorship:

7.4 Carbon Sequestration Calculations & ESG Guidelines:

8.1 Gestation Period & Maturity: Horticultural fruit trees typically reach fruiting maturity between 3 to 7 years following planting, depending upon species (e.g., Guava and Lemon fruit in years 2–3; Mango and Sapota in years 4–6).

8.2 Primary Beneficiary Entitlement: In accordance with SSCT's rural poverty alleviation mandate, the farmer household retains the majority of the seasonal fruit harvest for domestic dietary nutrition and commercial sale at local agricultural produce markets (APMCs).

8.3 Donor Token Harvest Share & Options: Upon fruit ripening, the Donor is issued a harvest notification with two operational options:

8.4 Corporate Bulk Harvest Protocols: Corporate Partners sponsoring large tree clusters may elect to designate their aggregate harvest share for distribution to rural educational institutions or coordinate bulk refrigerated freight delivery to corporate premises, subject to pre-arranged logistics agreements.

8.5 Natural Yield Variations: Agricultural yields vary based on rainfall, pollination, and seasonal climatic factors. SSCT warrants no minimum harvest weight or guaranteed annual commercial produce quantity.

9.1 Mandatory PAN Requirement: To generate a valid Section 80G Tax Exemption Receipt and include the donation in Form 10BD, the Donor must furnish their correct PAN prior to transaction completion. In accordance with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) regulations, no 80G receipt can be generated or backdated for anonymous donations or records lacking a verified PAN.

9.2 Corporate CSR Tax Deduction Disallowance Notice: Corporate Partners are hereby notified that pursuant to Explanation 2 to Section 37(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, expenditures incurred pursuant to CSR obligations under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 shall not be deemed to be expenditure incurred for the purpose of business or profession. Deductibility under Section 80G for CSR donations remains subject to prevailing statutory interpretations and judicial rulings. Corporate donors must consult their legal and tax advisors.

9.3 Annual Consolidated Statements: In addition to instant per-transaction receipts, SSCT provides an Annual Consolidated Section 80G Tax Statement at the conclusion of each financial year (April 1 to March 31), downloadable from the donor dashboard.

10.1 Essential Transactional Communications: By registering on the platform, you expressly consent to receive essential transactional and statutory communications at your registered email address and phone number, including:

10.2 Corporate Progress Documentation: Corporate Partners sponsoring bulk plantation blocks receive customized quarterly plantation progress digests and annual audited CSR impact summaries suitable for board presentation.

11.1 Compliance with Privacy Laws: SSCT processes donor data in strict compliance with the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023.

11.2 Confidentiality and Non-Commercial Use: Donor personal data (including full names, residential addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and PAN details) is collected strictly for operational execution, statutory tax filing, and fruit delivery logistics. SSCT never sells, leases, trades, or commercially discloses donor data to third-party marketing entities.

11.3 Public Tree Passport Privacy Protection: Public QR Tree Passports accessible via the web showcase only the tree tag code, species, planting date, growth milestones, and authorized dedication text. Personal email addresses, contact telephone numbers, home addresses, and PAN details are strictly masked and never exposed publicly.

11.4 Statutory 7-Year Record Retention: In compliance with Section 44AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and standard Indian accounting standards, transaction logs, tax receipts, and donor identity records are securely retained for a mandatory minimum period of seven (7) financial years.

12.1 Platform Intellectual Property: All software architecture, data structures, algorithms, text, graphics, logos, and digital Living Tree Passport frameworks are the proprietary intellectual property of SSCT.

12.2 Corporate Reporting License: Corporate Partners are granted a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to utilize verified plantation statistics, high-resolution growth photography, GPS coordinates, and carbon sequestration figures generated by IP4U within their statutory CSR reporting, Board reports, Annual Integrated Reports, and corporate marketing materials.

12.3 Truth in Environmental Marketing: Donors and Corporate Partners agree not to make false, exaggerated, or misleading claims regarding regulatory carbon neutrality or unverified carbon offsets that deviate from the verified data provided by the IP4U ledger.

13.1 Agricultural and Climate Realities: Agro-forestry involves biological organisms and natural open-field ecosystems subject to seasonal weather variations, ground conditions, and biotic stresses. While SSCT maintains high operational standards and provides transparent mortality tracking, SSCT makes no warranty regarding absolute tree survival against natural extremes or guaranteed commercial harvest yields.

13.2 Force Majeure Events: SSCT shall not be deemed in breach of its obligations or held liable for delays, damages, or tree losses resulting from acts of God, catastrophic flooding, prolonged regional drought, cyclones, unseasonal frost, severe pest epidemics, acts of civil disturbance, state or national lockdowns, or sovereign government restrictions beyond reasonable human control.

13.3 Cap on Liability: To the maximum extent permitted under applicable Indian law, the aggregate financial liability of SSCT, its trustees, officers, and employees arising out of or related to any donation or sponsorship transaction shall not exceed the total donation amount received by SSCT for that specific transaction.

14.1 Donor-Initiated Closure: A donor may request account deactivation at any time by written notice to the compliance desk. In accordance with statutory record-keeping mandates, past transaction records, 80G filings, and tree passports cannot be erased or expunged.

14.2 Termination for Cause: SSCT reserves the right to immediately suspend or terminate account access if a donor: (i) provides false, forged, or stolen PAN credentials; (ii) initiates abusive payment chargebacks; (iii) submits defamatory or unlawful dedication text; or (iv) attempts unauthorized security tampering with the platform.

15.1 Governing Law: These Terms of Participation shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the Republic of India, without reference to conflict-of-law principles.

15.2 Amicable Resolution: Any dispute, difference, or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall first be referred to the Executive Secretary of SSCT for amicable resolution within thirty (30) business days of written notice.

15.3 Exclusive Jurisdiction: Subject to amicable settlement efforts, all disputes arising out of or concerning these terms shall be subject to the exclusive territorial jurisdiction of the competent Civil Courts situated at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India.

15.4 Severability: If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, and the remaining provisions shall continue in full legal force and effect.

In accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and institutional governance standards, the contact details of the designated Nodal Officer and Grievance Cell are provided below: