Adhikar

Inspiration Most people run into two kinds of powerlessness at some point: a civic problem nobody seems to own (a broken streetlight, an overflowing garbage bin, a pothole that's been "under review" for months), and a rights problem where the other side has all the leverage (a landlord who won't return a deposit, a shop that won't honor a refund).

What it does Adhikar lets a resident report a civic issue (roads, garbage, streetlights, water, drainage, safety, parks), see it on a public board, and upvote issues that matter most to the neighborhood — so priority is set by the community, not buried in a queue. Alongside that, it has a plain-language rights guide for tenants and consumers, and a matching complaint form for each, so someone dealing with a landlord or a business doesn't have to first go figure out what their rights even are. Everything a person files — reports and complaints — rolls up into one activity view and one dashboard

How we built it I designed it as a single-page app: vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with no framework overhead, so the whole thing loads as one self-contained file. State (issues, complaints, upvotes) is held in the browser via localStorage, which was enough to make every flow — filing, upvoting, filtering, status tracking — actually work end-to-end for a demo, rather than mocking the UI with static data. I built the design system around a "civic gazette" feel — navy and gold, serif headlines, official-document tone — to make it read as a trustworthy public-service tool rather than a generic app template. For a production version, I mapped out the next layer: a real backend (Node/Express or Django), a Postgres database, auth for residents vs. municipal/admin accounts, and file uploads for photo evidence.

Challenges we ran into

1. Balancing scope vs. depth 2.Getting legal content right without overreaching 3.Designing one system that doesn't feel generic

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A single, coherent platform where three normally-separate problems (civic issues, tenant rights, consumer rights) share one clean, consistent experience. A fully working prototype — not just mockups — where reporting, upvoting, filing, and tracking all function end-to-end. Rights guides that are actually usable as a quick reference, not just filler text.

What we learned

We learned how much of "civic tech" is really information design — most people don't lack the will to act, they lack a clear next step and a place to put their complaint that feels like it goes somewhere. We also learned the value of designing for trust: status badges, timestamps, and visible complaint history do a lot of work in making a system feel credible, even at prototype stage.

What's next for Adhikar

A real backend (Node.js/Express + PostgreSQL) so reports and complaints persist across users and devices, with authentication for residents and municipal/admin accounts. Geo-tagged issue pins on a live map, and photo evidence uploads. Status updates and notifications so people know the moment their issue moves. An AI-assisted rights chatbot to answer specific tenant/consumer questions conversationally. Partnering with local ward offices or consumer forums to pilot real complaint routing, not just tracking.

Built With

• browser
• css3
• googlefront
• html5
• javascript