Finance Commission and Fiscal Federalism

The fiscal architecture has five jobs: (1) defuse the catastrophic-downside negotiation dynamic that defeated the 131st Amendment, (2) reward states that achieved fertility decline without rewarding only past achievers, (3) recognise OBC fiscal needs that population-only formulas underweight, (4) align tax retention with developmental need, and (5) give state governments a binding executive voice in federal fiscal decisions [@cite_15th_finance_commission].