New Delhi, Aug. 9 -- The balance of power between the Centre and states under India's constitutional federalism, historically fraught yet resilient, has been tilting towards greater centralization ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to office in 2014.

This belief gains ground when reading the final report submitted by the 16th Finance Commission (FC), a body that India's Constitution mandates be set up every five years to decide how taxes collected by the Centre should be shared with the states and between states.

The 16th FC report is the latest in a long list of examples where existing systems have been upended in an attempt to centralize powers in Delhi. The recent fiasco over examination testing has revea...