What was going on when I was born?

The Reagan Administration, in an effort to reduce welfare cheating, is proposing the creation of a data bank that would identify the estimated 25 million people on public assistance in a single national list for the first time. A proposed National Recipient Information System, sent to Congress in the last week, would include such data as a person's name, age, address, Social Security number and ''benefit status.'' The information would be made available ''on request'' by the Department of Health and Human Services to Federal, state or local agencies. According to the proposal, the data bank ''will assist in detecting and preventing fraud, abuse and waste and in maintaining the integrity of public assistance programs.''

The New York City Board of Estimate agreed yesterday to obtain the required appraisals for a new land-exchange proposal that could resolve the longstanding controversy over the parks in the Tudor City apartment complex. Under the new proposal by the City Planning Commission, two parks in the Tudor City complex at 42d Street and First Avenue in Manhattan would become public parks. In return, city-owned property at 51st Street and First Avenue would go to the Helmsley real-estate interests.

EW YORK'S sacred music coexists with its lavishly publicized secular concert life, yet remains unnoticed by most people. The reason is partly the wordliness of our time and partly that most people who listen to music in a church do so in their own churches, and don't wander in search of esthetic experiences in the same way that secular concertgoers routinely do. But twice a year, during the great Christian holiday seasons of Easter and Christmas, the sheer quantity of church music grows so abundant that it almost demands to be heard by music lovers at large. This weekend the Easter season begins the 10-day period from the Friday before Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. And as usual, the city will be full of music meant originally to enlarge upon the Christian experience through sound, but now so central to Western culture that it can be enjoyed by anyone, Christian and non-Christian, faithful and casual, as an esthetic experience. It would overstate the case, however, to imply that there is a complete separation between sacred and secular music, or between the religious and the esthetic experience. In the 19th century, for instance, esthetes argued that music's spiritualty itself suggested the religious experience. Institutionally, the overlap between the sacred and secular musical worlds is everywhere apparent this weekend. Well-known conductors and choirmasters, such as Richard Westenburg and Johannes Somary, got their starts in sacred music or

''For me one of the worst things would be if I woke up one day and said to people, 'I think apartheid is not so bad.'

World oil conditions have returned to the buyer's market that existed before the Iran-Iraq war broke out last September, oil analysts say. Three producer countries have cut prices on certain types of oil, ''spot'' market prices have slipped more than $3 a barrel since Jan.1 and supplies are so ample that talk is growing of further reductions amid a crude oil glut. According to industry sources, Venezuela has decided to decrease the price of No.2 heating oil by about $1.68 a barrel and No.6 fuel oil by about $1.80, effective today. Although price weakness is normal for these fuels after winter ends, the cuts are regarded as reflecting unusually soft market conditions.

The Republican-dominated Senate Budget Committee tonight rejected the austere budget that it had drafted for the fiscal year 1982, creating a delay that Reagan Administration officials feared could halt the budget-cutting momentum. The rejection, by a 12-to-8 vote, occurred because three conservative Republicans who opposed projected deficits totaling $110 billion through 1984 joined with the Democrats who opposed the Administration's tax plan and some cuts in social programs. The Senate resolution proposed $704.1 billion in spending and projected a deficit of $53.8 billion, while the Administration had proposed a budget of $695.3 billion and a deficit of $45 billion. The committee's spending and deficit figures are higher because it used somewhat different economic information in calculating the cost of the Administration's package. House Panel Backs Its Budget Later tonight, the House Budget Committee, which is controlled by Democrats, approved a $714.5 billion budget with a $25.6 billion deficitThe vote was 17 to 13, with only one Democrat, Representative Phil Gramm of Texas, joining the Republicans in opposition to the measure. It included 75 percent of President Reagan's proposed budget cuts.

In an abrupt departure from the warning signals it was putting out regularly only months ago, the international banking community is expressing favor with the economy of Brazil and lending the Government money at a rate that is outstripping national leaders' programmed goals. The development has come at a time when banks in Europe, North America and Japan are already showing more Brazilian credit on their books than they would like, and when the inflation rate is at a record 120 percent and foreign debt has topped $57 billion. The bankers are responding in part to a beginning-of-the-year tendency toward optimism and to the very high spreads being offered by Brazil. But the representatives of foreign banks here are also acting out of belief that the austerity measures being adopted by Brasilia are the correct ones to combat the soaring inflation and manage the foreign debt that is the largest in the developing world.

For a principle, a father in Argen- tina is persecuted A2 U.S. pledges $285 million to help African refugees A3 Peres says Eban will be Foreign Minister if Labor Party wins A4 Around the World A5 Ebullient Bishop Tutu returns to South Africa A6 Weinberger says Polish invasion is still possible A8 Haig ends visit to Spain express- ing support for its democracy A9 Government/Politics Donovan voices concern about subpoenaed records A10 Recount ordered of ballots in As- sembly election in Nassau B2 Connecticut Senate votes for higher parkway tolls B2 Court tells state to stop spending unappropriated funds B2 Prosecution rests in Margiotta ex Decision not to jail white criti- cized as racist by Koch B3 Energy Proposed offshore leases at issue in California A10 General Around the Nation A10 Gray sues the Government over its break-in case against him A15 Goody company convicted of deal- ing in bogus tapes B2 Health/Science Space shuttle fuels: a blend of old and new technology A16 Contingencies drawn for aborting journey into space A16 Multicomputer system to make all vital decisions on shuttle A17 Education/Welfare Bell urges stiff tests for students to be promoted A10 Weekend Weekender Guide C1 Botanical gardens gear up for the spring C1 "Salute to Magic" at Hunter College C1 Theater: Broadway C2 "March of the Falsettos" at Playwrights Horizon C3 "Aaah Oui Genty!" French pup- pets at the Bijou C8 "Half-Life," a British drama C15 Dance: Houston Ballet offers new works C9 Screen: "Nighthawks," with Sylvester Stallone C6 At the Movies C6 "Excalibur," directed by John Boorman C11 "D.O.A.," American tour by the Sex Pistols C12 Music: Easter, season of solem- nity and joyfulness C1 Calendar of Easter music in churches and halls C24 Heinz Holliger, oboist from Switzerland C3 Murray Perahia returns for piano recital at Fisher Hall C15 Rock clubs grow in number and style C23 Weslia Whitfield at Michael's Pub C23 Art: Henry Glintenkamp draw- ings at Graham Gallery C18 Manierre Dawson works at Schoelkopf Gallery C19 Alan Siegel "starfish construc- tions" at Cordier & Ekstrom C21 Auctions C22 Books: Publishing C17 "Love, Dad" by Evan Hunter is reviewed C27 Restaurants C16 TV Weekend C29 Style The Evening Hours A19 Doctors-to-be ponder abortion A19 Columbia fraternities revive a rite of spring A19 Obituaries Gen. Omar N. Bradley, an ap- preciation by Drew Middleton B5 Services to be held in Washington Tuesday for General Bradley B5 Norman Taurog, film director won Oscar for "Skippy" B6 Sports Oilers beat Canadiens to take 2-0 Miss Caulkins sets American mark in swim medley A20 Rangers, Kings brawl and set Carlos Alberto quits Cosmos in rift with coach A20 Mets use two homers to beat Cubs, 2-0, in season opener A21 Michael, rookie manager, delights in first victory A21 Miller among four tied for first- round lead in Masters A21 Islanders beat Leafs again,5-1 A21 Miss Casale, with another upset, gains tennis quarterfinals A25 Red Smith on another opening and another show A26 Valenzuela, Dodger rookie, hurls 5-hitter to beat Astros,2-0 A26 News Analysis Steven V. Roberts on the Demo- crats' new political manifesto A14 John Noble Wilford on the space flight A17 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A30 No leadership for Detroit Private schools, public duty The dirty secret of journalism Topics: inhumanity/justice Letters A30 Flora Lewis: an African states- man in Senegal A31 Tom Wicker: "an artful package" of budget proposals A31 Omar N. Bradley: "this ultimate threat" A31 Solomon Volkov: defectors' art- istry A13

An undetermined amount of ''slightly'' radioactive water accidentally leaked from the shutdown Indian Point 2 nuclear plant at Buchanan, and some of it drained into the nearby Hudson River, officials of the Consolidated Edison Company said today. The spill of water into the river poses no danger to health, according to spokesmen for the utility, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Westchester County, which sent health experts to Indian Point to investigate. The spill, which the utility said might have been as large as 8,000 gallons, was discovered about 1 P.M. yesterday when plant inspectors found three puddles of radioactive water outside a plant building. The puddles contained 120 gallons, and the water was removed to a waste-treatment site at the plant. An unknown amount of water drained into the river through a nearby storm drain, Con Edison officials said.

The principal engineering firm involved in Suffolk County's $1.2 billion Southwest Sewer District project was indicted yesterday on charges of bribing public officials and political figures in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in order to obtain contracts. The indictment was voted by a Federal grand jury in Brooklyn. The firm - Bowe, Walsh & Associates - allegedly paid $275,000 in cash as political contributions to Nicholas Barbato, the former Republican leader of the Town of Smithtown, and other people. According to the indictment, payments to Mr. Barbato began in 1969, and in 1972, Mr. Barbato requested payments totaling $12,000 for the chairman of the Suffolk County Legislature's Environmental Control Committee - who was Regis B. O'Neil Jr. of Cold Spring Harbor.

Last Friday, Karen Marsh, a 16-year-old Bronx high school student, told several of her close friends that she often worried about her father because he was a city policeman in a city full of crime and violence. Yesterday, Detective Warren Marsh of the New York City police and his wife buried their daughter, Karen. The day after she confided her fears about her father's safety, Miss Marsh was shot and killed by two young robbers. The two forced their way into the neighborhood Burger King restaurant where Miss Marsh worked after school and on weekends. The police said that the men took $241 from the store's cash register and that one fired two blasts from a shotgun as they fled. One wounded a young teen-age customer; the other killed Miss Marsh.

Eight years after a sudden turnaround saved it from the brink of bankruptcy, the Memorex Corporation has encountered sluggish sales, mounting competition and deep losses. The company, a major manufacturer of data storage equipment and audio tapes, hired Clarence W. Spangle as its chief executive officer in March 1980 to reverse the slide. Since then Mr. Spangle, a former president of Honeywell Information Systems, has eliminated Memorex's unprofitable product lines, trimmed its sales force and pumped new money into research and development. Despite those moves, Memorex had a loss of $29 million in 1980, in contrast to 1979's profit of $31.5 million. Sales remained steady. Results of this year's first quarter have not yet been reported, but the company estimates that it had a loss between $8 million and $13 million.