Global Thinker Award 2010
Citation
Dr. Shashi Tharoor
Dr Shashi Tharoor was born in London in 1956. He did his schooling at St Xavier's Collegiate School in Kolkata and went on to graduate in history from St Stephen's College, Delhi. He later went to the United States, completing a PhD in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he received the Robert B. Stewart Prize for Best Student. Apart from being a brilliant student, he showed his talent as a writer from an early age. He is the author of a number of best-selling, award-winning books, and had influenced public opinion through hundreds of articles, op-eds and book reviews in a wide range of publications in India and abroad.
Besides his prolific writing, Dr Tharoor has also had a distinguished
tenure at the United Nations, including as a member of the staff of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and various
key responsibilities such as senior adviser to the Secretary-General,
and Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public
Information. Dr Tharoor left the UN on 31 March 2007 and was
India's candidate to succeed United Nations Secretary-General Kofi
Annan in 2006, and finished a close second out of seven contenders.
Dr Tharoor is a compelling and thought provoking communicator
through his speeches and lectures. In January 1998, he was named a
"Global Leader of Tomorrow" by theWorld Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland. He is the recipient of several other awards, including the
Pravasi Bharati Samman presented by the Government of India.
He was appointed as Minister of State for External Affairs on
29 May, 2009.
The IILM Distinguished Global Thinker Award for 2010 is
presented to Dr Shashi Tharoor in recognition of his many significant
contributions to the understanding of a variety of issues of
global concern.
