The second VK Krishna Menon award has been given to Sri Anand Patil, ex-councillor of the London Borough of Newham . Anand Patil served the people of East London tirelessly and selflessly for over 40 years and in many capacities.

He was an elected councillor in the London Borough of Newham for 16 years. Anand Patil was born in Maharashtra (India). He came to the UK in 1964 for higher studies but stayed on to work for the welfare of working people from the Indian subcontinent. V K Krishna Menon Institute was established to celebrate and commemorate the life and times of a prodigiously talented, deeply patriotic, academically and intellectually gifted lawyer, an expert on international law and a most eloquent orator and statesman, one of the greatest that ever lived.

Apart from his work with the India League, Krishna Menon was also a councillor in what was then the Borough Council of St. Pancras, now Camden. He briefly served as Indias first High Commissioner in London after independence. Nehru appointed Menon the leader of the Indian Delegation to the UN. Subsequently he served as Indias Defence Minister. As Defence Minister he was as controversial as he was effective. He was widely admired for his anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist stance, playing a vital role in the eventual defeat of apartheid. It is to foster Menon’s principles the spread of freedom, peace and settlement of disputes by peaceful means that the Institute has decided to set up The V K Krishna Menon Award for Indians and people of Indian origin. This annual award will be given to individuals who have distinguished themselves in the following areas: diplomacy, science, economics, philanthropy, literature, human rights, philosophy etc.