What was going on when I was born?

''Even in exceptional situations that may at times arise, one can never justify any violation of the fundamental dignity of the human person or of the basic rights that safeguard this dignity.'' - Pope John Paul II. (A1:1.)

President Reagan plans to ask Congress tomorrow for a broad array of budget cuts totaling $41.4 billion next year as part of a sweeping economic package that is to include the largest tax cut in history. However, Mr. Reagan is to call for spending cuts in the current fiscal year less than half as large as the $13 billion promised in his election campaign and he does not expect to show a budget surplus until the fiscal year 1984, a year later than he promised. Even then, the projected surplus would be only $500 million. Along the way, the Administration program would result in large budget deficits: $54.5 billion in the fiscal year 1981, as against the current projection of $55.2 billion; $45 billion in the fiscal year 1982, as against $27.5 billion now estimated, and $23 billion in the fiscal year 1983, the year the budget was to have been balanced.

Unesco meeting hears two draft resolutions on press A2 France evades U.S. request for support on El Salvador A3 Students seize six hostages at the University of Mexico A3 U.N. envoy resumes peace mission to Iraq and Iran A4 Around the World A5 Brunei, nearing independence, builds up its military A10 U.S. endorses French plan for post-Madrid arms parley A10 Canadian Parliament opens final debate on constitution A11 Government/Politics Senate unit hears of threats and payoffs in shipping industry A12 Study calls Koch anticrime proposals ''misguided'' B3 Court rules Bustop must surrender shelters to New York City B3 State Senate leader criticizes transportation department B3 Energy Reagan ends temperature restrictions on buildings A16 General Around the Nation A12 Cleanup begins in Louisville in wake of sewer explosion A12 Murderer to be first to get electric chair in Indiana since 1961 A12 Convicted murderer killed while holding hostage A14 Baltimore's Harborplace: a handsome and popular marketplace A18 Monument built upon 'junk' of U.S. bureaucrats A24 Potential buyers warned of purchasing repossessed soybeans A26 McGuire says officer was not within guidelines in shooting B2 The Region B2 Industry/Labor Labor calls for protection of industry against imports A16 The Living Section Food Flour: Which types to use for what C1 No-salt cooking with vegetables: Eggplant C1 Penny-pinchers and inflation- watchers tell how they save C1 Where puddings are last but not least C3 60-Minute Gourmet C3 Best Buys C4 Wine Talk C20 Living Metropolitan Diary C2 Kitchen Equipment C2 Personal Health C10 Kitchen gadgets at Cologne housewares show C22 Discoveries C24 New Yorkers, etc. C24 The word on wine, according to Reginald C24 Health/Science Child's baffling illness linked to overdose of vitamin A A15 Delays might postpone testing of space shuttle's engines A15 Arts/Entertainment Kool and the Gang's rise was long and determined C25 Theater Row threatened with collapse by lack of funds C25 ''Elephant Man'', ''Raging Bull'' each get 8 Oscar nominations C28 Equity Library Theater stages ''Death Takes a Holiday'' C28 ''Great Space Coaster,'' new children's TV program C31 NBC-TV last in ratings for second week in a row C31 Frank MacShane's ''The Life of John O'Hara'' is reviewed C32 Two films by Andrzej Wajda begin limited run C32 Cable programs on health planned by Bristol-Myers C32 Obituaries A. Doris Banks Henries, American educator in Liberia A29 Justice Bernard Moldow of New York State Supreme Court A29 An Adelphi College student slain by L.I. police officer is buried B2 Education/Welfare Board members agree on steps to ease Rosedale situation B3 Sports Maple Leafs beat Islanders, 8-5 B5 Yanks sign Bill Castro, former Brewers reliever, as free agent B5 Acadia, Class D yacht, wins Florida Triangle race B5 Leslie Allen emerges as top black tennis player B5 Madison Square Garden seeks tax relief from city B6 Stanley Floyd is concentrating on setting mark in 60-yard dash B7 Red Smith on Tommy Henrich and high-priced players B7 Features/Notes Notes on People A24 Woman in the News: Karen N. Gerard, new Deputy Mayor B1 About New York B3 Going Out Guide C27 News Analysis David K. Shipler assesses Mideast challenges facing Reagan A6 Joseph Lelyveld on the outcome of the fighting in Zimbabwe A9 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A30 A sacred but fat tuition cow Zimbabwe's still patriotic front The PX that wants a view Topics: long shots Letters A30 James Reston: how minority leader Byrd sees the future A31 Russell Baker: Reagan, the great communicator A31 George F. Kennan: a risky American equation A31 Craig Bond Hatfield: big oil isn't the foe A31

Karen N. Gerard, an economist who is a vice president of the Chase Manhattan Bank, was named by Mayor Koch yesterday to the long-vacant post of Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy and Development. The choice, which came rather abruptly after an eight-month search, was generally met with approval in financial circles. Mrs. Gerard has specialized in regional economic forecasting for Chase Manhattan and is familiar with the economy of New York City and the state. She has been on the Council of Economic Advisers working with the city's Office of Management and Budget and is a member of the city's Industrial and Commercial Incentive Board. That board grants tax abatements to commercial and industrial interests to encourage economic growth.

WHEN a 17th-century recipe instructed the American housewife to ''take three-quarters of a peck of fine flower (sic),'' there wasn't the variety of flours at hand that exists today. Supermarkets offer one array of brands, health-food stores another, while a number of millers handle mail orders. In addition, there are the newcomers of special bread flours - market researchers must have discovered a considerable amount of home bread-baking going on - by Pillsbury and Gold Medal. As a result, home bakers of 1981 may well be wondering what flour is all about. Which is best? Or, which is best for doing what: bread, pasta, pastry? Basic as these questions are, the answers are far from simple. Bread-Baking A flour with a high gluten content is desirable - gluten provides elasticity, holds in the gas produced by the fermenting yeast, and builds the structure of the bread.

THE four foods that seem to lend themselves most naturally to nosalt cookery are tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and eggplants. These vegetables have an innate flavor that is more pronounced when they are cooked, and if treated properly their flavor gratifications need not be enhanced by salt. I try to limit my daily intake of sodium to 2 grams, which is the equivalent of 2,000 miligrams a day. I have indicated the sodium content of some ingredients that are relatively high in sodium. I note, for example, that the sodium content of celery in one recipe is 132 milligrams. But I add that the recipe servces four to eight and therefore is from 17 to 33 milligrams per serving.

In the early 1950's, a physics student in Frankfurt made an unusual offer to a power utility that was then the largest company in West Germany. With $6,000 and a cellar workroom, he promised to build a calculator that would do the company's bookkeeping. The company accepted, the machine worked and Heinz Nixdorf, the founder of Nixdorf Computer A.G., was in business. Today, Nixdorf, a privately held concern, is the second-largest German computer maker after Siemens and one of the few that is making money. Analysts attribute the company's profitable ways to its concept of decentralized computer equipment - the development of smaller computer systems and terminals that hook up to large mainframe computers - and to its strong export performance. It is now the largest foreign supplier of computers to the United States.

Karen N. Gerard, New York City's newly appointed Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy and Development, joins a select company that has a high attrition rate. Mayor Koch, who started with 12 Deputy Mayors, has two left, and will have three when Mrs. Gerard joins his staff next month. ''Deputy Mayors are becoming an endangered species,'' Mr. Koch joked during the news conference at which he announced Mrs. Gerard's appointment. ''Oh, not that endangered,'' she replied.

The Reagan Administration won strong support from key members of Congress today for future increases in American aid to El Salvador to help the Government there to counter what the Administration says is Soviet-bloc assistance to the insurgents in the country. ''I think those outside forces should be on notice that this nation will do whatever is necesary to prevent a Communist state takeover in El Salvador,'' said Senator Charles H. Percy, Republican of Illinois, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He made the statement after a closed-door briefing from Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. on the Administration's assertions that arms supplied by the Soviet Union, Cuba, Ethiopia and Vietnam had been sent to the Salvadoran insurgents. No Decision Is Reached Although William J. Dyess, a State Department spokesman, said that the Administration had not decided whether, or how much, additional military and economic assistance would be needed for El Salvador, various Senators and Representatives appeared favorably inclined in advance to requests that might be submitted.

In an apparent response to lagging sales and pleas for assistance from hard-pressed automobile dealers, the General Motors Corporation and Ford Motor Company today announced cash rebate programs that will be the biggest in the industry's history. The General Motors payments, which begin tomorrow and run through March 19, range from $500 to $700 and apply to smaller and sporty intermediate models, including G.M.'s popular, fuel-efficient ''X'' cars, among them the Citation. Ford said its rebate, which begins Feb. 19 and runs through March 21, amounts to 10 percent of the list price of most of its mid-size and large models, ranging from $610 to $1,769. Both companies' programs are joint efforts with the dealers, a departure from the past, when the companies absorbed the full payment.

When President Reagan outlines his tax program to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night, the proposals will reflect in good part the ideas and persistence of Norman B. Ture, the Treasury's prospective Under Secretary for Tax and Economic Policy. Mr. Ture, at the age of 57, is the principal designer of the Reagan Administration's streamlined tax package. The long unorthodox ''supply-side'' view toward tax revision - cutting taxes to encourage investment - that Mr. Ture and others have advocated has become White House orthodoxy. It has been a long climb for Mr. Ture. Thirty years ago, fresh out of graduate studies in economics, Mr. Ture joined the Treasury's tax analysis staff, labored anonymously for several years as so many bright young men and women do, and then moved on to a Congressional staff job.

IF the soaring price of food, fuel and shelter has you down, consider this: a home video recorder that Neiman-Marcus advertised for $34,000 in the 1960's can now be had, far improved, for less than $1,000. Ball-point pens, some selling for $12.50 after World War II, now go for a quarter. A New York-to-Israel telephone call, costing $12 for three minutes in 1950, is down to $5.70 today - and a pay phone call has been a dime since 1951. Coffee in New York markets is 12 percent cheaper than a year ago and lettuce is up only a dime over 1973. Do prices ever go down? Are there any bargains left? Is anything still cheap? Yes, according to some noted inflation-watchers, merchants and expert penny-pinchers.