If you ask a German "How are you?", they will tell you they caught a flu and they bumped their toe on the way to the bathroom.
As a German, it's hard work for me to respond appropriately to the American question. But I understand that I don't blame the American for being dishonest.
It's even harder for me to work with the Indian "yes", but I understand they don't mean to be dishonest.
It's ironic you're lamenting Indian cultural inflexibility, while simultaneously imposing your own by refusing to simply reword a question.
Engineers get results with the world they're given, not the world they wish they had.
We each have a right to our own perspectives on the world.
Evidence I see points to better engineering results from countries that don’t “culturally” lie.
Even when those aren't issues yes/no questions rarely have the precision that you want, often you can phrase a question to seem like it only has a binary answer, but the real answer is way more complicated. Basic project management principles come into play here. As other posters have commented, asking what someone will be working on first, setting up tracking tasks etc.