Well, your exemption will surely expire at the end of year one of your being in the US. So you will eventually have to apply for a U.S. license either way. You will likely be able to forgo the road test by simply submitting your India license as an exchange. So the process is not as difficult as one might imagine, or at least it shouldn't be. That is how it would work in my state and you need to verify it is also valid concept in Indiana!
So no, it is not a must, although it does show the judge that you've taken initiative to correct a perceived problem.
Not likely. Kentucky court have jurisdiction over the violation and they are not likely to allow it to be transferred even if such a transfer was viable by some process. You might want to explore the idea of hiring an attorney to appear on your behalf, though you would obviously incur some cost from that as well. And I have no idea how much a Kentucky attorney would charge!

