The Ministry of Home Affairs announced that ex-Agniveers will receive 50 percent reservation in recruitment to Constable (General Duty) posts across the Central Armed Police Forces and Rifleman posts in the Assam Rifles. The announcement came via a written reply in the Lok Sabha from Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, who confirmed the government has created a distinct "Ex-Agniveer" recruitment category specifically for this purpose. Rai noted that a dedicated Ex-Agniveer wing has been set up under the MHA to manage the cohort's transition into these forces, though he pointed out that the first Agniveer batch itself hasn't yet completed its four-year term of engagement.

The 50 percent figure marks a substantial jump from the 10 percent reservation announced when the scheme was first introduced. That increase began with the Border Security Force in December 2025, when the MHA amended the BSF's General Duty Cadre recruitment rules through a gazette notification, and has since been extended to the CRPF and is expected across the CISF, ITBP and SSB as well, according to earlier reporting on the MHA's broader rule-change plans.

Alongside the higher quota, ex-Agniveers will also be exempt from the Physical Standards Test, Physical Efficiency Test and the standard written examination that other CAPF constable candidates must clear — recognition, officials say, of the physical and combat training already completed during their Agnipath service. Age relaxation has also been built into the new rules: a three-year relaxation beyond the standard upper age limit for ex-Agniveers generally, and a more generous five-year relaxation specifically for candidates from the first Agniveer batch.

Importantly, the government clarified that this reservation is structured as horizontal, meaning it operates within existing category quotas rather than displacing the Supreme Court's 50 percent overall reservation ceiling — a distinction the MHA had already established when the original 10 percent quota was first announced back in 2022.

Several state governments have separately announced their own 10 percent reservations for ex-Agniveers in state police recruitment, and the Centre has also indicated ex-Agniveers will get access to posts reserved for ex-servicemen in the Railway Protection Force and Indian Railways more broadly. With the first Agniveer batch set to complete its term later this year, the coming months are expected to bring further clarity on exactly how the merit and selection criteria for absorption into these forces will work in practice.