Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Vir Singh


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.  

The result was keep. GRBerry 03:10, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Vir Singh

 * – (View AfD) (View log)

This was PRODed as "fails WP:PROF". Given his list of publications, I'm not sure of that, so here it is. Deletion is on the table. Xoloz 15:34, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletions.   —David Eppstein 17:26, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep- Reading the article he seams prominent. I personally would like to see some more sources.Callelinea 22:43, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak keep This is too specialized for me to really tell. He revised three prominent works, but that is not necessarily the same as writing them, depending on the reviews. As for the others, as a minimum we'd need publication details. I think this needs a specialist opinion. DGG (talk) 23:48, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak Keep The article claims the guy has updated three prominent works as DGG notes (at least one of which appears in the collections of many U.S. acedemic libraries per WorldCat), but I don't know enough about the topic to judge. This seems verifiable and I see no obvious harm in leaving it in. Crypticfirefly 03:55, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete Does not meet the notability guidelines for academics. --Crusio 07:58, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep Dr Vir Singh has done wonderful work in the field of history. He is a notable person looking to his contributions. We can find at least about four of books edited by him on URL - Books by Dr Vir SinghAll the books are with ISBN numbers. I have gone through at least 3 books by him. I found these books very useful. I would like to expand this article in future. I feel strongly to keep. --burdak 11:32, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Keep per burdak's argument that he passes WP:PROF. He needs to improve the article ASAP, not in the future. Bearian 17:51, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Looking at WP:PROF, I do not see how editing and writing a few books, however valuable that may be, in and of itself suffices to establish notability. Where are the independent sources? Note also that according to the link given by burdak, there are four books: one is a compiled symposium report, one a book in Hindi (without it being clear what Vir Singh's contribution is), one a biography in Hindi to which Singh contributed a chapter (and perhaps edited this, but that is not really clear), and the fourth one is a biography for the same person, this time in English and as mentioned on the cover edited by Singh. As far as I can see, none of these books was "updated" by Singh, at most he edited them. In short, notability is not established. --Crusio 18:26, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * STRONG KEEP

 Dr Vir Singh is a prominent member of Jat Community, some100 million strong.

The Jats, also known as Jats, Jutts, Juts, among many other variations, are found in Northern, Central India, Pakistan, Baluchistan, and Afghanistan. In Central Asia their identity has been merged into various other communities.

Dr Vir singh is Director, of Maharaja Surajmal Centre For Research & Publication Surajmal Memorial Education Society C- 4, Janak Puri, New Delhi-110 058

Jat history studies had been languishing .To be clearer and more specific, it was ignored in Indian History texts, and the history of this society was assigned to other groups. Indian history text books contained next to no references to them it was made to be that the Jats had no history. Indian society has like any other society special interest groups, and this is the major cause for the situation.

It was only fairly recently, some  80 years ago, starting with two authors Thakur Desraj and Professor K R Quanango. The discovery of Jat History records which had been lost for 150 years, and gave much information of their history detailed following the failure of the first war of Independence in 1857, (also known at the Indian Mutiny), in the early 1950’s Jat history studies valuable material long lost.

New authors, R S Joon, Dilip Singh Ahlawat, Dr. Balbir Singh, Hukam Singh Pauria, Dr Nathan Singh etc wrote a number of books  and papers. Dr Balbir Singh, a noted Historian, was one of the founders of the Surajmal Educational Trust, named after Mmaharaja Surajmal, the great Jat King of Medieval times. See article on [Bharatpur],

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatpur%2C_India

and main article [Jat] too.

The Surajmal Memorial Education Society, New Delhi, set up a research department for research into Jat history.

A number of publications and books were brought out, some reprints in various languages

Dr Vir Singh took over as The Head of Research, for the Society, in 2000 CE and  under his leadership,  one or more singular achievements has been to organize annual seminars on Jat History where prominent historians from Academia, various universities, etc are invited to participate, The annual seminars are now a great success.

Dr Singh has also been the general editor of a number of books, which have based been based on the Research papers that have been presented at these annual seminars

Under Dr Singh’s leadership Jat history studies have now achieved a firm footing..

He has also been instrumental in selfless editing of Out of Print works on Jat History, and have they reprinted under the auspices of the Surajmal Education Society. When we talk editing, we are really saying that he has after much research corrected errors, added notes, practically give these books a new and more in depth perspective for the serious academic or general lay  reader.

He has over 14 research papers to his personal credit.

Some are of his papers are referred to and extracts are the yahoo Jathistory group site. See for example:

Re: Article by Dr Vir Singh on Jat resistance to the Mughal- Rajput alliance.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/3338

In the ongoing discussion of what should be included and not included in the Indian history texts books as taught in the official schools, and universities he has been instrumental, in discussing and implementing with the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training- the official Indian government  body responsible  for curriculum and textbooks, ),  as revisions of the material so that factual material about the Jats and their History is presented.

His work will live on long after him.

When the history of how and what History is taught in India, and the world, his name will stand out, as the one person, though of a very humble, self depreciating, nature, change the face of how the History of the jats would be included in the Indian History curriculums.

In conclusion, the Jats are one of the more important and populous communities in India and Pakistan

For various reasons, their History was not given its proper space in the Indian History curriculums, This is changing but there is resistance from some special Interest groups, as anyone who reviews some of the discussions on the Jat related web pages, including wikipedia  will find out in short order.

Why and how this occurred is another story, and those interested may visit the [Jat} page on Wiki, and wish to acquire a more in depth knowledge are welcome to visit and join the Jathistory discussion group, coordinates below..

Jathistory

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/

or Jatland

http://www.jatland.com/

One suggests, Dr Vir Singh,  a prominent Historian of this community, is not a nonentity, and deserves a place in an Encyclopedia.

Strong - Do Not Delete

Ravi Chaudhary 16:29, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Keep - Dr Vir Singh is a prominent Jat historian. I strongly favour to keep as per Ravi Chaudhary.59.94.108.114 07:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete WP:VERIFY--AmerHisBuff 09:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.