Land Measurement in Uttarakhand: Nali, Mutthi, Bigha and Biswa

1 nali in Uttarakhand in gaj is 240 gaj, which is 2,160 sq ft or about 200.67 sq m. The nali (नाली) is the main land unit of the hill districts of Kumaon and Garhwal. It splits into 16 mutthi. The state's reference bigha is 6,804 sq ft, which is 3.15 nali.

Units used in Uttarakhand

In the hills, land is measured in nali and mutthi (मुट्ठी). In the plains districts, such as Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and the Dehradun valley, people commonly deal in bigha and gaj. Records are reported to use the hectare.

The bigha, biswa, nali and mutthi values above come from a state judicial academy training document, so they rest on a stronger source than most local values. Even so, that document has slips: it writes the nali as 1,350 sq ft in one place, which does not match its own square metre figure. The 2,160 sq ft value is backed by other sources and by its own metric figure.

The chain of units

• 1 bigha = 20 biswa
• 1 nali = 16 mutthi
• 1 bigha = 3.15 nali
• 1 acre = about 20.17 nali = about 6.4 bigha
• 1 hectare = about 49.83 nali = about 15.82 bigha

As a rough rule, about 20 nali make an acre and about 50 nali make a hectare.

Sources differ: how many nali in a bigha?

Many websites repeat that 1 bigha = 12 nali. That cannot be true with a 6,804 sq ft bigha and a 2,160 sq ft nali, because then a bigha is only 3.15 nali. One exam explainer says a bigha is about 12.5 nali in some hill districts, which would be about 27,000 sq ft, close to the UP pucca bigha of 27,225 sq ft. We could not find the source of the 12 nali rule. Local custom varies, so ask before you rely on any nali to bigha figure.

It is also not confirmed whether the plains districts use the UP pucca bigha instead of the 6,804 sq ft bigha. If your land is in Haridwar or Udham Singh Nagar, confirm the bigha size locally.

Official records unit and portal

Land records are on Devbhoomi Bhulekh. The khatauni follows the UP style and is reported to show area in hectare. We could not confirm this on the portal itself, so read the unit printed on your copy.

Example: a khatauni area of 0.1 hectare is about 10,763.91 sq ft. That is about 4.98 nali or about 1.58 bigha of 6,804 sq ft.

How to measure a plot

1. Measure length and breadth in feet and multiply them.
2. Divide by 2,160 for nali, by 9 for gaj or by 6,804 for bigha.

Example: a plot of 60 ft by 36 ft is 2,160 sq ft, exactly 1 nali or 240 gaj. Hill plots are rarely neat rectangles, so use the land area calculator for sloping or uneven plots.

Common mistakes

• Using 1 bigha = 12 nali. With the reference values, 12 nali is 25,920 sq ft, far more than a 6,804 sq ft bigha.
• Mixing UP and Uttarakhand bigha. A UP pucca bigha of 27,225 sq ft is about 4 Uttarakhand bighas.
• Using the 1,350 sq ft nali. It is a slip in one document. The nali is 2,160 sq ft.

For a sale, partition or court matter, confirm the unit with the patwari or the tehsil office and check the khatauni on Devbhoomi Bhulekh. Our bigha to square feet and acre to bigha pages let you pick the Uttarakhand bigha.