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Article History

Received: 28 September 2025

Accepted: 2 February 2026

First Online: 27 February 2026

Declarations

:

: Under the remit of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), anonymised, non-interventional questionnaire studies of adult participants with no linked identifiers fall within the “exemption from review” category specified by the ICMR National Ethical Guidelines (2017, Table 4.2) for less-than-minimal-risk research. On this basis, formal IEC approval was not required. The study was carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the IEC, the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments, and the ICMR guidelines. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.