ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE FOR MIGRANT WOMEN IN MAHARASHTRA'S SUGARCANE INDUSTRY

This paper examines the critical barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare faced by seasonal migrant women labourers in Maharashtra's sugarcane industry where tens of thousands of women migrate annually from drought-prone regions to perform physically demanding work often 12 to 18 hours per day under extreme conditions lacking basic amenities like clean water, sanitation and adequate housing. This study synthesises current research, field reports and media investigations to highlight a severe reproductive health crisis resulting from the combination of strenuous labour, frequent pregnancies and poor hygiene. Key findings underscore four interrelated issues: debilitating working conditions and the resulting gynaecological morbidity an alarming near-epidemic prevalence of early-age hysterectomies up to 36% in some districts which is often coerced under false pretences of treating common ailments a persistent lack of formal healthcare access due to their migrant status, mobility and contractor restrictions and significant social constraints rooted in poverty, debt, caste discrimination and cultural taboos that inhibit care-seeking The public health system, insurance schemes and labour laws largely fail to account for this highly mobile population. In conclusion the paper calls for a multifaceted intervention, the deployment of mobile health services and targeted outreach to cane fields, structural labour reforms to mandate rest and secure wages and sustained advocacy to address cultural stigma and underlying socioeconomic vulnerabilities to safeguard the fundamental health rights of these workers.