What was going on when I was born?

Two gun-control bills that will go into effect Oct. 1 were signed into law today by Gov. William A. O'Neill. One mandates a five-year prison sentence for using a firearm while committing a serious crime and the other requires a one-year term for carrying a handgun without a permit. As he signed the bills in front of a crowd of reporters and camera crews in his office, Mr. O'Neill said he thought Connecticut had ''gone about as far as we possibly can go'' in gun-control legislation.

The Chase Manhattan Bank yesterday cut its prime lending rate to 20 percent from 20 1/2 percent, but many economists and analysts were reluctant to interpret the move as the start of a long-term drop in interest rates. Although Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan predicted in Washington that interest rates would decline in coming months, others expressed views closer to those of William V. Sullivan, senior vice president of the Bank of New York. ''The downturn in the Federal funds rate has only lasted a few days,'' Mr. Sullivan said, referring to the interest rates that banks charge for short-term loans to each other. ''The market has been too volatile of late for people to determine whether this drop is permanent.''

REAGAN MEETS WIFE OF SOVIET DISSIDENT: President Reagan and Vice President Bush during a White House meeting with Avital Shcharansky, wife of Anatoly Shcharansky, who is serving a prison term after conviction for treason.

In what is by far the strongest rebuke yet issued to a scientist involved in gene-splicing research, the National Institutes of Health yesterday outlined broad disciplinary action against a California professor who violated Federal guidelines in the sensitive new area of biology. The action reflects the importance attached to the fast-advancing field of recombinant DNA research by the Federal Government and insistence that all such work be done in a manner that is above reproach. Recombinant DNA research, known popularly as gene-splicing, and sometimes called genetic engineering, has been the subject of high hopes and much controversy in recent years. Some persons have been particularly concerned over the possibility that future experiments might involve deliberate and misguided attempts to change human genetic traits.

An American flag waves above the front lawn in the breeze. Inside the modest house, the floors are crowded with filing cabinets and cartons bulging with photocopies of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Departments of State and Defense. One wall bears a huge map of Southeast Asia, with scattered sites circled in red ink. Aging photographs of a dark-eyed and short-haired young man in uniform stare solemnly from tabletops and mantels.

President Reagan, reflecting the Administration's apparent frustration with recent disarray in the financial markets, criticized the Wall Street community today for ''looking through a very narrow glass'' and misunderstanding his economic program. ''I have never found Wall Street a source of good economic advice,'' Mr. Reagan said in response to a question at a meeting with state and local officials. He asserted further that the financial community had been ''sitting there watching anything that they think may change the interest rates and the bond market'' and was therefore absorbed by ''only one facet'' of the program of tax cuts and budget cuts. In the last few weeks, Administration officials have acknowledged that the unsettled condition of the markets - in which bond prices have dropped to new lows - reflected skepticism about Mr. Reagan's program of deep tax cuts and concern that it would produce new deficits and new inflation. In response, the White House has signaled its willingness to consider smaller tax cuts.

The Government index that is intended to forecast economic trends climbed four-tenths of 1 percent in April, the Commerce Department reported today. The rise in the index of leading economic indicators was the second straight following three monthly declines. The result, substantially in line with expectations, confirmed the views of many analysts that the economy would continue to push ahead into the summer but at a considerably slower rate than it did during the first quarter, when the nation's output of goods and services grew at an exceptionally robust annual rate of 8.4 percent.

Religion becomes a political bat- tleground in Nicaragua A2 Uruguayan regime shaken by gambling scandal A3 Senate panel postpone vote on human rights nominee A3 Salvadoran leader rejects media- tion by Socialist International A3 Mondale criticizes Reagan on human rights A4 Around the World A6 U.S. Navy base in Japan is focus of storm over nuclear weapons A8 Portuguese found everywhere in South Africa but the census A9 Mrs. Thatcher visits Northern Ire- land A11 Government/Politics Rep. O'Neill vows fight to restore funds to social programs A13 Byrne urges 3 candidates to end gubernatorial quest B2 City invites bids on a contract for bus shelters B2 Governor Carey's advisory panel issues transit report B3 Monitoring accord ends dispute over 2-man sanitation trucks B6 New York City Council creates 2 new seats B7 General Around the Nation A12 St. Paul, Minn., favors a city- owned cable TV system A14 Fate of son shot down over Laos still preoccupies parents B1 An era is ending for Columbia Grammar B1 The Region B2 Mattress said to have triggered fire that killed 7 in Jersey B2 The City B3 House panel told of illegal waste disposal practice in Jersey B3 Service at service stations be- comes scarce near New York B3 Freed Soviet Jew calls prison test of faith B6 Weekend Weekender Guide C1 "Golden Age of Spain," an arts celebration C1 Harvard-Yale regatta makes New London festive C10 A look at the underside of New York C11 Guide to the city's new coffee- houses C14 Theater: Broadway C2 "Early Days" at Kennedy Cen- ter reviewed C5 Richard Dreyfus stars in one- acters' marathon C5 Screen: "Polyester," with Tab Hunter C6 At the Movies C8 "The Haunting of Julia," with Mia Farrow and Tom Conti C8 Music: Critic's Notebook C23 Sabri Brothers of Pakistan C23 Art: Literary MSS. and Levine caricatures at Morgan C1 Carlos Merida show at Inter- American center C18 Auctions C20 Walter Darby Bannard paint- ings at Knoedler Gallery C22 Books: Publishing C26 "Minnesota Rag" by Fred Friendly reviewed C25 "Paris Review. 25th Anniver- sary Double Issue" reviewed C26 Restaurants C16 TV Weekend C27 Religion United Presbyterians reaffirm stand on diety of Jesus A14 Health/Science A study of computer terminals finds minimal radiation B6 Industry/Labor A tentative settlement is reached in the 64-day coal strike A1 Style The Evening Hours B4 For Mrs. D'Amato, it's program- ming, not politics B4 Nursery school reunion: kudos and kazoos B4 Party must go on, alors! B4 Sports Baseball strike put off as players, owners extend deadline A17 Steinbrenner backs Michael but switches pitching coaches A17 Bench fractures ankle as Reds win A17 Williams agrees to rejoin Super- Sonics A17 Janet Alex and Sandra Spuzich score aces on same hole A17 Red Smith on change in baseball strike outlook A18 Players express hope that season will not be disrupted A18 Angels replace Fregosi with Mauch as manager A19 Ratelle of Bruins ends 20-year playing career A21 Borg advances in straight sets as rain curtails French open A21 Taylor, Young, top draft picks, sign with Giants A22 Klein, Chargers' owner, stricken after testifying A22 Features/Notes Notes on People C12 News Analysis Hedrick Smith on public mood under Reagan A13 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A26 The New Jersey handicap Crossed fingers on inflation Jack Rosenthal: fat and porn Letters A26 Tom Wicker: Mr. Reagan's rusty edges A27 Flora Lewis: hot and cold terror- ists A27 Philip R. Lee and Barry Ensming- er: Reagan's health policy A27 June Teufel Dreyer: China's pros- pects A27

Israeli jets swept over Lebanon today and destroyed what a military spokesman described as a complex of Libyan antiaircraft missile batteries guarding Palestinian guerrilla positions south of Beirut. The attack, the first against guerrilla bases in four weeks, was made, the spokesman said, after missiles were fired at Israeli reconnaissance planes over Damur, nine miles south of Beirut. It was said to be the first time that Israeli jets had destroyed antiaircraft missile batteries in Lebanon. ''The pilots reported accurate hits on their targets,'' an official announcement said. ''Syrian Air Force planes did not try to intervene during the air strikes. All Israeli planes returned safely to base.''

The reading scores of public-school pupils in New York City have exceeded the national average for the first time in the 12 years that the citywide test has been given. An unexpectedly strong improvement of more than seven percentage points was achieved on an examination identical to one administered three years ago. Statistics from such cities as Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington and Detroit show that New York City's accomplishment makes it one of the few big-city school systems with an enrollment that consists predominantly of minority pupils to surpass the national average. Preliminary results released yesterday for the test given in April showed that 50.7 percent of the elementary and junior high school pupils scored at or above grade level, compared with 46.7 percent last year and 43 percent in 1978. Scores rose in all 32 of the city's community school districts.

SPAIN'S greatest outpouring of literature and drama occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries: El Siglo de Oro, or the Golden Age, was the epoch of Spain's premiere novelist, Cervantes, and of its pre-eminent playwrights, Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderon de la Barca. This weekend, on the 300th anniversary of Calderon's death, three of New York's leading Hispanic cultural institutions - the Museo del Barrio, the Ballet Hispanico and the Intar Hispanic-American Theater0- begins ''The Golden Age of Spain,'' an arts festival that spans two cultures and the heart of Manhattan from 42d Street to 104th Street. At 6 this evening, El Museo del Barrio, the museum that serves Manhattan's largest agglomeration of Hispanic-Americans, opens its doors at Fifth Avenue and 104th Street for a large exhibition of prints, photographs and costumes of the Golden Age in a show that will extend through the summer. At Symphony Space, Broadway and 95th Street, tonight at 8, Ballet Hispanico will offer an adaptation of Lope de Vega's play ''Fuenteovejuna.'' The ballet, choreographed by Ballet Hispanico's artistic director, Tina Ramirez, inaugurates the company's two-week spring season.

A tentative contract agreement was reached early today by negotiators representing soft-coal miners and coal industry operators. If approved by the union's bargaining council and then the rank and file, the accord would end a 64-day strike by Eastern and Middle Western miners. The agreement came after nearly 10 hours of negotiations yesterday and early this morning, mainly over technicalities and details of the proposed 40-month contract. Under the union's constitution, the earliest the tentative settlement could go to the 160,000 members of the United Mine Workers for a ratification vote would be June 7. If they approved the contract the miners would likely return to work the next day.