Talk:Akhtar Hameed Khan

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[edit] Facts About the Comilla Model

Akhter Hameed Khan wrote (with much public angst) much in the 1970s about problems with the Comilla Model, which was unravelling in front of his eyes and eventually collapsed altogether. This article has suggested that the Model was a great success in microfinance. I have made some corrections in fact, inserting some of Khan's quotations (and the quotations of other observers) related to this matter and the true significance of the Comilla Model.

The Comilla Model, and Dr. Khan's contributions by pioneering it, were significant, but mainly for the negative reason that its failure turned microfinance practitioners in Bangladesh (including Dr. Yunus) off the cooperative model and towards a much more centralized microcredit delivery structure for 30 years. Dr. Khan was a fine leader and the vision behind Comilla has not died, but this should not obscure the facts. Hopefully these correction will help take this article another step towards 'FA'. Brett epic 04:00, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

One of the reasons this article lost GA is that over the time many insertions were made without any care to the section contexts or MoS. NPOV is welcome, but your recent insert copies half of preceding para plus cit. Pls see if you can improve it, while I rework the article. --IslesCapeTalk 11:16, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
There is nothing here I wish to improve. It is not a recent insertion; it was written last year and summarizes the results of major revisions to Comilla Model I researched and wrote last summer. The passage vanished a couple of days ago; you gave no indication of why you removed it. Since it is important, factually accurate and essential to the balance of the article -- and probably too to the prospects of this becoming GA again and even FA later -- I have reinserted it.Brett epic (talk) 10:26, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sort key? (and name?)

I shortened "Akhtar Hameed Khan" to "Khan" throughout the article, except (of course) in the lead sentence and in publications about Khan. This had already been done to some extent by other editors; I just made it consistent throughout the article. So the puzzle: why is the sort key, for categories in the article, this:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Hameed}}

rather than this:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Akhtar Hameed}}?

-- John Broughton (♫♫) 15:47, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comilla Model, Revisited

Why would an editor whitewash this article, and distort NPOV, by removing evidence of the fact that the cooperatives formed by Khan under the Comilla project failed? Khan acknowledges this failure openly in his own writing, and it is very evidently the case on the ground in Bangladesh today. This fact is no embarrassment to Khan; he was fine practitioner in spite of it, and the legacy of learning from the Comilla movement is a lesson in agricultural microfinance for the world as a whole and the cooperative movement in particular. But to describe the cooperatives as 'successful' as was done by the same editor, is simply inaccurate. It is also an affront to the reputation of successful cooperative movements around the globe. If the editor would like to know more, please refer to the article Comilla Model.Brett epic (talk) 06:54, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GA

I've moved the GA-relatd review comments from the talk page to GA1 and GA2, respectively, for archiving. Dr. Cash (talk) 16:49, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Copyedit

I've just completed a thorough copyedit of this page following a request from one of the editors on my talk page. A few things to note:

  • Wikipedia house style recommends that we don't include titles, such as "Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan". It is evident from the article that Khan had a doctorate.
  • Don't include personal observations in the article, such as noting that "despite the shock" of his mother's death Khan continued his studies, or noting that his mother was a "sympathetic person". I am sure she was, but that is a subjective judgement and not appropriate in an encyclopedia. It's also worth keeping in mind Wikipedia's policy on maintaining a neutral point of view.
  • Articles ("a"/"an" and "the") help readers make sense of written English. Please use them where appropriate. This Wikipedia page may help if you're not sure of the grammatical rules. Or, for a clearer explanation, look it up in a copy of Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.
  • Try to be consistent about spellings within articles: e.g. it is fine to have "programme" or "program", but not both. I've attempted to standardise the spellings in the article to standard British English, which seems more appropriate for British India/Pakistan during Khan's lifetime.
  • This is a very informative article. Congratulations all!

-- TinaSparkle (talk) 21:02, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Great work Tina. --IslesCapeTalk 13:53, 28 April 2008 (UTC)