I agree most Indian pilots know the manuals word for word... But can they apply this and fly the line day in day out...... No.
This is not something that is exclusive to Indian Aviation alone . This is how education is taught in India . All theory and no practical .
There was once a debate on this on how aviation education in India was heavily focused only on the theoretical aspects only and one of the graduates from the
" Premier Institutes of Flight Training " in India claimed that how much knowledge you had was what counted and not how you can fly
According to them planes today fly themselves and even a monkey can be taught how to fly a plane . It was how much theoretical knowledge you had that counts
Thats fact that you need maths and physics at the +2 level ( thats your last two years of school before you go to university ) in order to apply for an Indian DGCA CPL is evidence of this nature