The Legion of Honor: Tharoor receives France's highest civilian honor

Noted author and MP Shashi Tharoor was awarded France's highest civilian honor  'Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur' on 20 February 2024. Tharoor was presented with the award by French Senate President Gerard Larcher at the French Embassy.

• The French government had announced to give the award to Tharoor in August 2022, but he was given the award on 20 February 2024.
• Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour), abbreviated as 'The Legion of Honour'.

Tharoor honored for strengthening India-France relations:

• According to the French Embassy, Dr. Tharoor has been given this honor to strengthen India-France relations.
• Generally, this honor is given by France to the leaders, diplomats, administrators etc. of different countries for establishing excellent relations with France and to establish a commitment to international peace and cooperation.
• Shashi Tharoor is currently the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram. On this occasion, Tharoor said that he felt extremely honored to accept the honour.

Brief biography of Shashi Tharoor:

• Shashi Tharoor was born on March 9, 1956, in London, England. Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician, author and former international civil servant.
• He is a senior Congress leader from Kerala. Currently an MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• He has won elections in this region for two consecutive terms as a member of the Indian National Congress.

Diplomatic life of Shashi Tharoor:

• Shashi's career began in 1978 as a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the United Nations in Geneva. From 1981 to 1984, he became the head of the UNHCR office in Singapore.
• In 1989, Shashi was made Special Assistant to the Under Secretary General for Special Political Affairs. Later it became the Peacekeeping Operations Department in New York.
• Until 1996, Shashi was part of the team responsible for peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia.
• In 1996, Shashi was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and Executive Assistant to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, he was appointed as the interim head of the Department of Public Information at the level of Assistant-Secretary General. On 9 February 2007, Shashi resigned from the post of Under-Secretary General of the United Nations.

Major book of Shashi Tharoor:

• The 12 best books of Shashi Tharoor can be seen as follows:
  • Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India
  • The Great Indian Novel
  • India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond
  • An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India
  • Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century
  • The Battle of Belonging
  • The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cellphone
  • Show Business
  • Nehru: The Invention of India
  • B.R. Ambedkar: The Man who Gave Hope to India's Dispossessed
  • Riot: A Nobel
  • Bookless in Baghdad