Indian politician, Great writer and former international diplomat Shashi Tharoor celebrates his 65th birthday today. He is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala since 2009. He also serves as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and All India Professionals Congress. Tharoor is a member of the Indian National Congress and was a career official at the United Nations before his retirement in 2006. He is also an accomplished author, with 18 bestsellers to his name. He is also known as an orator, with many of his tweets often going viral on social media.

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. He is the author of hundreds of articles, in the National and International publications.

Born in London in 1956, Dr. Tharoor was educated in India and the United States, completing a PhD in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While there, he received the Robert B. Stewart Prize for Best Student and also helped found and served as the first Editor of the Fletcher Forum of International Affairs, a journal now in its 39th year. 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. He is also a recipient of several awards that include a Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India's highest honour for overseas nationals.

Here is Newstrack wishing you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. You continue to commit the many years of your experience in public life and your scholarship for nation-building.

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