A seminar on the importance of the Goba system was called on September 13 at Dr. Ambedkar library, Shagaran in which many important topics related to the Goba system were discussed.

Ladakh Buddhist Association, Vice President, Chering Dorje released a study titled ‘The Goba of Ladakh.’ The study looks at the current status of the system, its relevance in current times, its strengths and weaknesses, the challenges it faces, and finally, what can be done to strengthen it as means of achieving better governance for Ladakh’s people and environment.

The study was done by the Kalpavriksh, Local Futures, Snow Leopard Conservancy-India Trust, Nature Conservation Foundation, and Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation.

Chering Dorje spoke about the crucial role played by the Goba’s in the functioning of the Association and hoped that they will continue their support to the association and also appreciated the researchers for their great work.  

 The seminar was conducted by Ashish and Shriti who did research and spent months visiting several villages studying the Goba System. During their research, they noticed that there isn’t any Female Goba in the villages they visited and discussed the cause and need to empower women in this field. 

In the seminar topics like history, importance, functions, and relationship between different govt. organisations and Goba’s were discussed. They criticized the age limit criteria set by govt. for Goba. During the study, the duo noticed that the Goba system is on the verge of extinction, and came to a conclusion that the primary reason for the retrogression of the system was the losing interest of people in the position of Goba, and came up with a solution to overcome these obstacles. According to them the primary reason for the disinterest in this system was the low finance or income, in today’s times a Goba is only paid a sum of Rs. 1500 and has to pay the expense of any additional charges from his pocket, therefore an increment in the incentives can boost the system. Another problem raised was that the Govt. does not recognize this kind of institution as a greater platform and thus, disputes arise. It was found out that the representatives do not consult Goba’s when any developmental plans are in action or to be implemented.

A gathering of gobas/ nambardars was held on September 20 and 21 at LEDeG campus, Leh. The gathering aims to build stronger ties between the traditional and new institutions of self-governance in Ladakh, including the goba, the Panchayat, the Hill Council, and the UT administration.