Shashi Tharoor is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was born on 10 March 1956 in London, England.
Shashi Tharoor graduated 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.
Shashi Tharoor’s career in the United Nations began in 1978 as a staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. From 1981 until 1984 he was head of the UNHCR office in Singapore, during the boat people crisis, leading the organization’s rescue efforts at sea and succeeding in resettling a backlog of Vietnamese refugees.
In 1996, Tharoor was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and Executive Assistant to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, Tharoor was appointed as Interim Head of the Department of Public Information (DPI) at the Assistant-Secretary-General level.
In February 2007, amidst speculation about his post-UN future, the Indian press reported that Tharoor might be inducted into Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of State for External Affairs.
In 2009, Shashi 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.
He also served as Minister of State for External Affairs. Popular for his command over the English language, Tharoor was the most followed Indian on Twitter before being overtaken by Narendra Modi.
A Sahitya Academy Awardee, He has authored many works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981, which are centered on India and its history, culture, film, politics, society, foreign policy, and more related themes. He has written columns and articles in nearly all major publications of the world and India.
