So how to move forward?
Is commercial aviation going to stop in India? No. Are there enough properly qualified pilots in India? Probably not. Are there "fake pilots" in the system who can do the job? Probably yes. Are there pilots who need dismissing? Definitely yes. But maybe all is not lost...
The DGCA have to come up with some sort of plan to identify the people who can actually fly and dispose of those who can not. Failure to do so may place some operators in a position whereby they can't afford insurance which will the mean their leases are in default. Worse than that, the ghoulish spectre of smoking holes (Indian rail crash style) may raise its ugly head (again). Corruption, nepotism and poor standards are eating the heart out of Indian aviation and the DGCA should start fixing the problem PDQ. So, how about using the sim as a chopping tool (am I really saying this?) ? I don't mean pressing the buttons until the thing crashes, but do some real simple N-1 stuff with appropriate Technical, Legal and Flight Safety questions beforehand. The session could be part of the recurrent checks. Then those that get through could be given a real ATPL revalidation (ie. they have demonstrated competence) and those that fail are chopped. Furthermore, make it so that those who get chopped get an automatic jail sentence if they are later proved to have submitted forged paperwork. Video each session with multiple recorders and once the recording are de-identfied, release them on the internet, then announce the results to the candidates. This way it can be demonstrated very publicly that the system is being cleaned up, that the sub-standard are being removed and only those who are competent (even if only to low standard) are allowed to fly. Yes, the bludgers who cheated and bought their way in may still end up with a job, but at least they will have proved that they can fly.