Cabinet approves two-year extension for Agniveers not absorbed after four years

What the Cabinet approved

Chief of Defence Staff General N S Raja Subramani announced on 4 November 2026 that the Union Cabinet had approved an additional two-year engagement for the 75 per cent of Agniveers who were to exit after their four-year tenure. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the decision as a two-year Second Tour of Duty for Agniveers under the Agnipath scheme. The original provision under which up to 25 per cent of each batch can be absorbed as regular soldiers on merit after four years remains unchanged.

Under the revised arrangement, the remaining 75 per cent will no longer leave immediately at the four-year mark. Instead, they will be offered a second engagement period of two years, taking their total service to six years before a further opportunity for regular enrolment. General Subramani said the Cabinet had created a pathway for all Agniveers to be absorbed into the armed forces, while stressing that enrolment after the extension would depend on willingness and objective selection criteria, not automatic absorption.

How the new pathway will work

The model keeps two tiers. The first tier covers the top 25 per cent retained immediately as regular soldiers on merit after four years. The second tier covers the remaining 75 per cent, who will serve two extra years and then face a second evaluation. General Subramani said personnel not picked in the first round were not necessarily lacking in capability, and that non-retention was a function of relative ranking.

Those who accept the extended engagement will receive higher remuneration and an increased Seva Nidhi package during the additional two years, according to the Chief of Defence Staff. The armed forces have tracked Agniveer performance in a centralised tri-services database since the scheme began, and the recommendation for the extension followed three to four months of structured inter-service evaluation, he said.

Why the change comes now

The decision comes weeks before the first batch of Agniveers was due to start completing its initial tenure. Reports put the first batch at more than 18,000 personnel, with the Navy's first batch completing service on 21 November, the Air Force on 21 December and the Army on 31 December 2026. General Subramani said the armed forces had received highly positive feedback on the performance of Agniveers over their four years of service.

He also made clear that the Agnipath scheme itself is not being scrapped. The four-year entry contract remains the baseline, he said, adding that the scheme was designed to be reviewed rather than fixed in stone. The announcement follows sustained debate about the shorter engagement period, which had also led several states to provide reservations for Agniveers in police and other services.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II extended

In a separate development reported on 4 November 2026, the Centre has extended the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II until March 2028. The extension is reported to allow around Rs 7,000 crore to be allocated for the rural sanitation scheme in the Union Budget 2027-28, with remaining villages to achieve ODF Plus status by the end of March 2028 within the allocated resources.

According to the report, the Finance Ministry has made clear that no further extension will be granted beyond 31 March 2028. The Phase-II scheme, approved by the Cabinet in February 2020, was initially meant to run to 2024-25 and was later extended to March 2027 before this latest extension by a year.

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