* "Over 2200 policemen, 900 home guards , 3 State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) company, 1 RAF company and 20 striking platoons have been deployed at Pune," SP Pune (Rural) Sandip Patil said.

* While the Centre has kept its communication channels open, it wants the day to pass off incident-free if the sponsors go ahead with their bandh call.

* Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday appealed to the public to not participate in the ‘bandh' called by Dalit organisations. He appealed for peace, harmony and brotherhood in the country.

* His appeal comes a day after the Lok Sabha passed The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill 2018 to overturn a Supreme Court order concerning certain safeguards against arrest under the law.

* BJP’s ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and Lok Sabha MP Chirag Paswan last week said that there was no reason to go ahead with the bandh as the centre had already brought the amendment bill to restore the law.

* Paswan maintained that there was a country-wide resentment among the Dalits, SC and ST communities against the apex court verdict, and there was apprehension that the agitation on August 9 could once again lead to unrest.

* Violence during a similar ' Bharat Bandh ' on April 2 had left over 12 protesters dead.

* Appointment of A K Goel as the National Green Tribunal Chairman was protested by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and others, contending that it sent a wrong message to Dalits. Paswan and several others sought his ouster.

* Goel, a retired Supreme Court judge, was on the bench that introduced several safeguards in the Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

* Sources within the BJP have termed the party's silence on the demand of removing Goel "strategic", as supporting or openly opposing such a call is fraught with risks.

