Shashi Tharoor (lang-ml??? ?????? lang-hi??? ????) (born 9 March 1956) is the Indian Minister of State (Minister of State#Minor government ranks) for External Affairs (Ministry of External Affairs (India)) and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency (Thiruvananthapuram (Lok Sabha constituency)) in Kerala. He served as the UN Under-Secretary General (Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations) for Communications and Public Information between June 2002 and February 2007, during the term of Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the United Nations. In 2006, he was the official candidate of India for the office of United Nations Secretary-General, and came second out of seven official candidates in the race. He is also a prolific author, columnist, journalist, human-rights advocate, humanitarian and adviser or fellow of various institutions, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Aspen Institute, and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.