Legal Metronomy

Measuring of anything valuable is very important, for the buyer must get his Value For Money (VFM). But, different parts of our country still use different measuring systems for land; for example, kanals and marlas in Punjab and Haryana, bighas in UP and Rajasthan, Kathas in Assam, Bihar and West Bengal, Grounds and Cents in Tamil Nadu; and Gunthas in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Now, eight kanals go to a marla and there will be four marlas in an acre. There are pacca bighas and kacha bighas of 3,000 square yards each or 900 square yards. A ground can be a plot of 40 feet by 40 feet and a Guntha can have 1,089 square feet. Confusing, right?
The MKS System was adopted by the Government of India wef 1st October 1958.
This Metre Kilo Seconds System is easier to use than the original FPS System that is the Foot Pound Seconds System which was prevalent in our country at that time, as introduced by the British Government. In the MKS system all multiplications and divisions are by ten; while in the FPS system they are different for different units, making it cumbersome to calculate them. For example, pints and ounces are calculated differently. Instead of multiplying by 16 or 9 or 3 or 12 for the different units in the FPS System, the multiplication by ten in the MKS System is so very easy; and can be derived at a faster pace. Not every one of us can ever be close to Ms Shakuntala Devi!
Hence, to avoid so much confusion and to bring about a universal standardisation, it is now mandatory to use the MKS System only in all our working and documentation.
Zafar Iqbal