‘Kejriwal wants to tune into Mann Ki Baat’: IIT-K exam question goes viral

LUCKNOW: A question asked in an IIT Kanpur examination has gone viral on social media for referring to institute alumnus and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's attempt to tune into PM Modi's ‘Mann Ki Baat' programme on Vividh Bharti FM post his ‘crushing defeat' in Delhi elections.
The question asked in a major quiz of the department of electrical engineering (ESC201 course) held on Feb 11 asked students to design a filter using which ‘Kejriwal can pass a content of one radio channel while attenuating (reject) the adjacent two radio channels by -60dB to tune into PM's broadcast'.

The students were asked to help ‘Kejriwal' design this filter using R (resistor), L (inductor) and C (capacitor) components, with a twist. The question further stated that since Kejriwal spent a lot of money on the election campaign, he could only afford a resistor of 50 Ohms, a variable inductor and a variable capacitor.
The question that carried two parts of two marks each asked students to find out the quality factor of the filter designed using the R, L and C components — the three fundamental passive components used in electrical circuits; and find the values of inductance and capacitance.
In a statement, IIT-K officials said, "It has come to our attention that a question from an exam in the department of electrical engineering has been circulating on social media. We would like to clarify that the faculty member in question frequently incorporates references to well-known personalities—both real and fictional—to make exam questions more engaging for students."
They added, "In the past, similar references have included characters such as Tony Stark. The intent behind this approach is purely academic, with no other implications."
A student on condition of anonymity said, "The names of Arvind Kejriwal or Mann Ki Baat in the question were used for added effect. There are professors who make questions interesting with their innovations by incorporating current events."
Meanwhile, the question evoked mixed responses from social media users. Some poked fun while others said it was a sign of "narrow-minded society".
An X user Ravi Handa posted a pic of the question paper and captioned it: "IIT Kanpur Prof is trolling Arvind Kejriwal via an exam paper".

Another X user @abhay_vk wrote, "This is brilliant. Engineering students love application-oriented teaching. Only thing relevant to them in this question is frequencies, resistance & noise level. Rest is for us to outrage on social media."

Another X user @SanitSandeep wrote, "This is a fantastic example of contextualising a theoretical question in a real-life scenario to make it more relatable."

Another one with handle @r_sivakumar wrote, "It's bizarre that people find this level of jingoism and partisanship funny on an exam paper in a premier institution. We are just turning into another mean, narrow-minded society. Grow up @IITKanpur."