MALNUTRITION is the terminal stage of a disease called ecological poverty. As everyday 16 children die in Maharashtra of malnutrition, and a state government admits it only after some hard prods from the state high court, one expects some rethinking on the disease. The state health department records reveal that nearly 9,000 children under the age of six have died directly or indirectly of malnutrition in the state's tribal areas since last year. The court got the budget for tribal development doubled, there were high profile visits by the state chief minister and other politicians and various tribal affairs departments were administratively restructured