I do not think merit is the problem here as there was a time when merits were distributed generously, sill activities were an issue. I remember you posting a few topics of your own and others on a merit thread run by hugeblack and he distributed a few merits. As per my understanding, we can easily get merits from the global source by either contacting them or by using their merit threads. The whole issue is the negative policy of the government that has stopped newbies from enrolling in the forum and another thing is that not everyone is aware of the forum's existence and that there is an Indian local board.
When I checked last time, hugeblack locked his merit giveaway thread for local boards and I don't think any other merit source has a thread especially to improve the engagement in Local boards.
Now we are on our own, we can get merits from local boards and spend it here, but it won't be the same as merit generated by source every month.
If government's negative policies towards crypto is stopping people from India to adopt crypto then you are wrong, I have been watching the Reddit India closely the community is getting bigger and bigger.
People may not know the existence of Bitcointalk but they will get the results on top only if the engagement of Bitcointalk India grows, so the results will appear on top when someone search crypto - India in search engines.