Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad

What follows is the content of the re-created article Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad. Only make alterations or additions to the lowermost part of this page.

Ashoka Prasad / Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad
There was a famous fraudster in Australia some time ago who was the grandson of Rajendra Prasad. Apart from that, his contributions to the world of psychiatry were entirely made up. See this article on the website of Australian national broadcaster ABC for details: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s11681.htm

His name was Ashoka Prasad. It seems highly likely that this Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad is the same person.

A similar comment has been added to the Rajendra Prasadpage Atticus Finch 03:41, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

I have checked.This man was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972 much before the episode.I think the other man was misusing teh coincidence of similarity of names.Th election to the Academy is a very eleborate process.I have included similar comments on the Rajendra Prasad page.Actually I had created this stub in consultation with several senior Wikipeidans who felt that all teh Indians in teh Academy should have articles.I had created similar stubs on Yash Pal and Bharati Mukherjee(Vr 04:55, 8 September 2006 (UTC))

List of degrees
This remarkable page -- the main source specified for the article -- tells us that His academic distinctions are as below:

1. M.B.B.S ( Kanpur University, 1976 ) 2. Specialization in Pediatrics ( Ireland, 1977 ) 3. Ph.D ( Beliard College, Oxford , 1980) 4. M.R.C. Psych. ( London 1983 ) 5. F.R.C.P ( Glasgow, 1984) 6. D.Phil ( Oxford 1985 ) 7. D.Sc ( St. Andrews Scotland Open University 1985 ) 8. F.R.C.P ( Ireland, 1985 ) 9. L.L.M ( Harvard ,1987 ) 10. Bar - at - law ( Lincolus Inn., London 1989 ) 11. M.A ( Anthropology, Columbia 1989 ) 12. Ph.D ( Cambridge ,1993 ) 13. F.R. His. S ( London 1995 ) 14. F.R.G.S ( London 1995 ) 15. F.R.A.I ( London 1995 ) 16. C. Biol ., F.I Biol ( London 1997 ) 17. C.Math F.I.M.A ( London, 1997 ) 18. Honourary Doctorate, Natal ( South Africa , 2000 ) 19. F.R.C.Path ( London 2000 )

Now I'm a simple fellow, and I don't claim to know what all of that hifalutin stuff means. But among it, the following appear to be academic degrees:

1. M.B.B.S ( Kanpur University, 1976 ) 3. Ph.D ( Beliard College, Oxford , 1980) 6. D.Phil ( Oxford 1985 ) 7. D.Sc ( St. Andrews Scotland Open University 1985 ) 9. L.L.M ( Harvard ,1987 ) 11. M.A ( Anthropology, Columbia 1989 ) 12. Ph.D ( Cambridge ,1993 )

Let's consider these. First degree 1976. He skipped the master's degree and instead went straight into a doctoral course, in just four years getting a PhD from Beliard College (not one I'd previously heard of) in Oxford. Five years later, another doctorate from Oxford. AND in the same year a doctorate from St Andrews and/or the Open University (let's not quibble about details). Two years later he got a master's degree; two years later another master's degree; four years later he got another doctorate.

I don't recall ever having heard of anyone with four doctorates. Two, yes; three, very occasionally perhaps; but four? (And maybe he got five if he really did get doctorates from St Andrews and the Open U at the same time.)

Clearly this man is a genius.

Or possibly, just possibly, this hagiography is a pile of horseshit, and not worth citing for this or anything else.

I wonder. Any informed comments? -- Hoary (talk) 15:24, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

A very strange saga indeed
Hoary has pointed out that this page has been previously deleted as a likely fabrication - see Articles for deletion/Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, which also contains further commentary on its accuracy. I thought the fact that he has been in this list since the earliest edit must be some sort of proof of the claims, but now I see that that article's early history has actually been lost in a page move, so I think I smell a rat.

The main source for the article is hosted on http://www.timespiders.0lx.net/, which turns out to be a free web hosting service. In other words, something significantly less than a reliable source. Ignore that, and what can we actually verify?

Pub Med brings up 9 hits for a psychiatrist named AJ Prasad (or 41 for A Prasad, but the wide range of subject areas suggests these are many different people). This is significantly fewer than the 260 claimed in the biography, and far fewer than we'd expect from a notable scientist, let alone a world-leader.

There seem to be two syndromes which have been called Prasad's syndrome - one in psychiatry and one affecting the intestines. However, neither seems to have caught on as a name, as they generate three pubmed hits between them. .

The book seems to be real. 

There is a real AJ Prasad who is a fellow of the AAAS, but according to French Wikipedia that's an engineer called Ashoka Jahnnavi Prasad Jr (I think - my French is a bit ropey). If, as Vr said above, the member of the AAAS was elected in 1972, he obviously cannot be the same person as the subject of this article, as he would have been elected aged 17 date of birth 1955 and before he completed his first degree. To put it mildly, this is unlikely.

In short, there is a real, published psychiatrist called Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, but I can find no convincing evidence that he is notable enough for Wikipedia. This is before we even get into the question of whether he is the same person as the psychiatrist called Ashoka Prasad, who has been struck off medical registers in several countries for scientific fraud. Unless anybody would like to tread into that BLP minefield to establish some notability, I suggest the page should be deleted, and probably salted given that it has been deleted before. Iain99Balderdash and piffle 23:27, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

http://www.amazon.ca/Biological-Therapy-Neuroses-Ashoka-Prasad/dp/0849348994

I had the advantage of delving into the JNU Library after I read this article.Bothe Top 1000 scientist book and the Biological Basis and therapy of neuroses book are available.I looked at teh Scientist book which does contain the entry as in eth timespiders article.I also looked at the book.It does have information about teh author.

Prasad seems to completed his PhD from Balliol Colege.His DSc was from St.Andrews in 1983.The other doctorates are Honorary doctorates it would seem and the author of the article misspelt the name of the College and got some information wrong.There is also a reference to Honorary Doctorate from Natal-which I think makes the subject notable.Also I find his entry in International Who's Who that is available here!I may be wrong but this book is regarded as a reliable source of notability of living persons.I also loked at eth govt.article on Rajendra Prasad which has refernce to him.(Delhite (talk) 07:11, 24 January 2008 (UTC))

Place any additional comments below.

Want to re-create an article on him?
Anyone who wants to (re-) create an article on Prasad should apply at Wikipedia:Deletion review. -- Hoary (talk) 10:43, 24 January 2008 (UTC)