Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor (Malayalam pronunciation: [ʃɐʃi t̪ɐɾuːr], SHUH-shee thǝ-ROOR; born 9 March 1956) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat, politician, a noted writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is the present Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was formerly an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and unsuccessfully ran for the post of Secretary-General in 2006. Founder-Chairman of All India Professionals Congress, he formerly served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and on Informational Technology. He has about two dozen titles to his credit and was awarded by World Economic Forum as "Global Leader of Tomorrow".

Shashi Tharoor
Tharoor in 2021
Pronunciation[ʃɐʃi t̪ɐɾuːr]
Born (1956-03-09) 9 March 1956
NationalityIndian
Alma materUniversity of Delhi (BA)
Tufts University (MA, MALD, PhD)
Occupations
  • Writer
  • diplomat
  • politician
  • former international civil servant
Years active1978–present
WorksBibliography
Political partyIndian National Congress
Spouses
  • Tilottama Mukherji
    (m. 1981, divorced)
  • Christa Giles
    (m. 2007; div. 2010)
  • (m. 2010; died 2014)
Children2
AwardsFull list
Honours Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (2004)
Encomienda de la Orden Española de Carlos III (2012)
Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (2022)
Minister of State for Human Resource Development
In office
28 October 2012  26 May 2014
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
MinisterKapil Sibal
M. M. Pallam Raju
Preceded byDaggubati Purandeswari
Succeeded byUpendra Kushwaha
Minister of State for External Affairs
In office
28 May 2009  18 April 2010
Prime MinisterManmohan Singh
MinisterS. M. Krishna
Preceded byAnand Sharma
Succeeded byE. Ahamed
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Assumed office
31 May 2009
Preceded byPannyan Raveendran
ConstituencyThiruvananthapuram
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information
In office
1 June 2002  9 February 2007
Secretary GeneralKofi Annan
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byKiyotaka Akasaka
Chairman of the Standing Committee on Information Technology
In office
13 September 2019  12 September 2022
Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals & Fertilizers
In office
23 March 2023  Incumbent
Preceded byKanimozhi Karunanidhi
Founder-Chairman of the All India Professionals Congress
In office
1 August 2017  15 November 2023
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPraveen Chakravarty
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
PeriodPostmodern
Genre
Subject
Years active1964–present
Notable works
Websiteshashitharoor.in

Born in London, UK, and raised in India, Tharoor worked across the world, graduating from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1975 and culminated his studies in 1978 with a doctorate in International Relations and Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. At the age of 22, he was the youngest person at the time to receive such an honour from the Fletcher School. From 1978 to 2007, Tharoor was a career official at the United Nations, rising to the rank of Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information in 2001. He announced his retirement after finishing second in the 2006 selection for U.N. Secretary-General to Ban Ki-moon.

In 2009, Tharoor began his political career by joining the Indian National Congress and successfully represented the party from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala by winning in the Lok Sabha elections and becoming a member of parliament thrice. During the Congress-led UPA government, Tharoor served as Minister of State for External Affairs. A non-loyalist of the Gandhis, Tharoor was defeated by Mallikarjun Kharge to be elected as party president in 2022. He is currently a member of the Congress Working Committee, which is highest decision making body of the Indian National Congress.

A Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Tharoor has authored many works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981. Popular for his command over the English language, Tharoor was the most followed Indian on Twitter before being overtaken by Narendra Modi.

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