K.V. Kaliappan, former head of the Department of Psychology in the University of Madras, who was instrumental in adopting psychological approaches to prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents, died on Sunday.
Considered the father of applied psychology in India, Prof. Kaliappan graduated in psychology from Presidency College and pursued a course in clinical psychology at NIMHANS, Bangalore. He started his career at the Institute of Mental Health here before joining the University of Madras as a faculty. As chairman of the Indian Society of Criminology, he ran three rehabilitation centres for prevention and treatment of drug abuse and alcoholism in Salem, Vellore and Cuddalore.
