The competence of communication in English is the key to empowerment of the youth of India. The youth of India are good at the contents of their core subjects but just because of their weakness in communication in English they lose many opportunities. This was stated by Prof. H.S.Chandalia, Chief Guest of the National Conference on Acquisition of Vocational Communication Competence organized by Government Engineering College, Banswara on Friday.

He said that in a multicultural and multilingual country like India the more languages one knows the better it is. NO language is superior and no language is inferior, he said. One must acquire his mother tongue, learn the official language of the Union and also should learn English which is the language of opportunities since it is the language of governance as well as the language of world market.

Presiding over the Inaugural function Dr. Mahipal Singh Rao, Director Research, Govind Guru Tribal University said that language and communication skills come handy in a situation when you have no one around to seek help from. One can make his way in a foreign land with good communication skills.

Dr. M.S.Wankhede, Nagpur addressed the audience as a guest of honour. He said that all the four basic skills of language are required for acquiring communication competence. The students must make an effort to acquire a command on all these skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Another guest of honour Prof. Rajesh Lidiya fro Rajasthan Technical University, Kota stated that Engineering students need to develop communication skills because this is what makes them employable. He said that 70% of the chance of absorption depends on communication skill and only 30% depends on subject knowledge.

ADM Himmat Singh Barhat, Executive Engineer Deepak Shrivastav and Dr. Yeshpal also expressed their views. Lokesh Bhatt , Lecturer in Siddhi College, Sagwara, who had obtained a doctorate in English was felicitated by the organizing body. Dr. Shiv Lal , Principal of the college, presented a report on the pioneering steps taken and targets achieved during his tenure. He said that events like the conference will add to the efforts in the image building of the institution. Dr. Sulbha Kothari convened the programme.

The inaugural function was followed by two technical sessions in which twenty four delegates made their presentations. One session was chaired by Prof. H.S.Chandalia and Co-chaired by Dr. Mehzbeen Sadriwala while the other session was chaired by Prof. M.S.Wankhede. Post lunch technical sessions were held in which more than thirty papers were presented. Dr. Shiv Lal, Principal of the college told that this was the second conference in two months. Earlier in December an international conference was organized by the college.