Shashi Tharoor Politician and author

Shashi Tharoor, a fourth-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of 27 books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. He has won numerous awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in the category of ‘English Non-Fiction’ for his book An Era of Darkness. He has previously chaired the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers as well as the Standing Committee on External Affairs and the Committee on Information Technology.

Latest from Shashi Tharoor

‘The task now is to craft a new consensus’

The fate of the Washington Consensus, once talisman

Watch: Shashi Tharoor: What Kerala can learn from the rest of the world

‘It is time Kerala started being the destination where the best of the world is adapted, improved, and offered back to humanity with a distinctly Malayali touch’

Kerala’s paradox can spark its global vision

‘The 21st century’s most urgent challenges are precisely those that no nation can solve alone’

The new world disorder, from rules to might

‘India’s vastness makes a single narrative difficult, but that does not mean marketing the country is impossible. We must segment our appeal — Spiritual India, Adventure India, Luxury India — and market each with clarity and conviction to different audiences abroad.’ File

India, the beautiful — but first, India the functional

‘The right to disconnect is an investment’

The right to disconnect in an ‘always-on’ economy

‘The domestic R&D environment struggles to attract and retain world-class researchers’

A grand vision and the great Indian research deficit

‘This renewal begins with governance’

Kerala 2.0 — a call to reclaim the State’s future

‘Resources are being diverted to emergency responses rather than investing in long-term sustainable solutions’

Delhi’s air, a ‘wicked problem’ in need of bold solutions

Three-dimensional synthesis of works, on behalf of the future of science and technology, network communications, digital age

India’s IT dream is at a crossroads

‘The world the UN was designed to serve has changed beyond recognition’

The UN matters, as a symbol of possibility

‘Strategic autonomy is the art of navigating a turbulent world without losing one’s bearings’

India’s strategic autonomy in a multipolar world

‘China’s determined endeavours to stymie competition are not merely a reflection of simple geopolitical rivalry. Rather, they are an undeniable reflection of profound domestic compulsions.’

Decoding China, the lessons for a vulnerable India

‘In a world where great powers often behave as if might is right, middle powers such as India and Europe must act as custodians of a rules-based order’

The importance of India and Europe walking in step

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