Dr Shashi Tharoor
About
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala since 2009 and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.
During his nearly three-decade long prior career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary General during Kofi Annan's leadership of the organisation.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor is an acclaimed writer, having authored 16 best selling works. He is also the author of hundreds of columns & articles in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, & The Times of India.
Prior to embarking on his political career, Shashi Tharoor also served on the Board of Overseers of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, and the Advisory Boards of the Indo-American Arts Council, the American India Foundation, the World Policy Journal, the Virtue Foundation and the human rights organisation Breakthrough.
A prominent human rights advocate, Dr. Tharoor was appointed an International Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva for the period 2008-2011.
He was also a Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and the Patron of the Dubai Modern School, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Hague Institute for International Justice.
Awards and Accomplishments
Awards and Accomplishments
He has won India’s highest honour for Overseas Indians, the ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’, & numerous literary awards, including the ‘Commonwealth Writers Prize’.
He was the first Indian to reach 10,000 and 100,000 followers on the medium, and currently has 4.2 million followers.
Dr. Tharoor was also awarded an honorary D.Litt by the University of Puget Sound and a Doctorate Honoris Causa in History by the University of Bucharest.
In 1998 the World Economic Forum in Davos named him a ‘Global Leader of Tomorrow’.
In 2012 the King of Spain awarded him the ‘Encomienda de la Real Order Espanola de Carlos III’. Among numerous other awards are one for ‘New Age Politician of the Year’ from NDTV, the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration, and the ‘Priyadarshini Award’ for Excellence in Diplomacy.
Why Shashi Tharoor ?
A widely-published critic, commentator & columnist, Tharoor is a globally recognized speaker on India’s economy & politics, as well as on freedom of the press, human rights, Indian culture, & international affairs.
Dr. Tharoor is also a recognised authority on India, especially regarding its recent economic transformation and future prospects, globalisation, freedom of the press, human rights, literacy, culture, foreign affairs, cricket and more, and is a compelling and effective speaker, fluent in English, French as well as in Malayalam and Hindi.
