What was going on when I was born?

An article in Business Day on Tuesday incorrectly reported a government action to reduce money available to banks and incorrectly stated the decline in the money supply for the latest reporting week. The Treasury Department acted on Monday to reduce deposits at several commercial banks. The money supply fell by $1.2 billion in the week ended May 20.

Salvador's plight tears a leading family apart A2 Taiwan becoming disenchanted with Reagan Administration A3 Deng Xiaoping delivers eulogy for Soong Ching-ling A3 Athens buildings wrecked by fire- bombs and spreading blaze A4 Around the World A6 Italy explores Sindona link in Ma- sonic scandal A7 Reagan aide backs human rights policy and nominee A9 Poland's leadership denounces hard-line party faction A10 Black workers end strike in South Africa A12 South African police break up stu- dent demonstration A13 Israeli residents in southern Sinai gloomy over withdrawal A16 Government/Politics General Assembly winds up ses- sion in Hartford B2 Albany legislative leaders meet in move to resolve issues B5 Mrs. Codd accepts Liberal Party's designation for Mayor B6 Jury gets case of former Gov. Blanton of Tennessee B13 General Around the Nation A18 Chicago is inching toward a shut- down of its transit system A18 St. Bartholomew's to proceed on development plans B3 Center for ex-mental patients voted on West Side B3 Abbie Hoffman transferred to a minimum-security prison B7 Columbia dedicates new student housing complex B11 Health/Science Court upholds doctor's monetary claim for a scientific discovery B9 Religion Appeals court finds state violated rights of Hare Krishna sect B3 Home Section Home New fixture in the home: The computer C1 Stairs and bridges for the ad- venturous C1 Helpful Hardware C2 Home Beat C3 Home Improvement C4 A mansion ceiling is restored C6 Designer furniture on perma- nent sale C7 Tips on buying and using home computers C8 A course about co-ops C9 Gardening C12 Taking over the home of an eld- erly parent C1 Hers C2 Women's benefits: Debate is rekindled C3 Notable turnout for Angier Biddle Duke C10 New York University planning to offer a master's in folk art C11 Arts/Entertainment House-Senate unit cuts public broadcasting $35 million C14 Calderon de la Barca's "Life Is Dream" is staged C15 "The Butler Did It" opens at Players Theater C17 Book critic ponders the scene the author didn't write C17 Ramaz School bridges architec- ture and education C18 Schubert-Bartok festival concerts at Carnegie Hall C20 Jay Neugeboren's novel "The Stolen Jew" is reviewed C21 Proposed arts-budget cuts threaten Kitchen's programs C22 How Columbia-TV become a top series producer C23 Sports Yanks beat Orioles in 11th,2-0 D21 Mets turn back Phillies, 6-2 D21 Clerc beats Connors in French quarterfinals D19 Kuhn becomes a central issue in baseball talks D19 Salazar, marathon winner in 1980, is running from fame D19 Summing primed for upset in the Belmont Saturday D20 Pleasant Colony turns on speed in final drill for Belmont Stakes D20 Grote drives in club-record 7 runs as Royals beat Mariners,12-9 D21 Billy Martin is charged with as- sault D21 Dave Anderson on Dodgers and other nicknames D23 Cosmos, in slump, get Wegerle from Aztecs D23 News Analysis Leslie H. Gelb on the Administra- tion's southern Africa policy A11 Linda Greenhouse on the Supreme Court's decisions to decide A20 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 Amtrak's last chance New Jersey lucks out Product safety, a valid concern Letters A22 William Safire: gluts to the glut- tons A23 James Reston: Mitterrand, poet and practitioner A23 Anthony Lewis: nuclear news in Moscow A23 John Heminway: Uganda under the British again? A23

International France's minimum wage was raised by 10 percent and pension benefits were increased sharply by the new Socialist Government, which said that banks, oil companies and the rich would face higher taxes next year to help finance the programs. In their first major policy announcements, the Socialists also said they were abolishing some controversial authoritarian security practices that had been criticized by non-Gaullists. (Page A1, Columns 1-2.) Francois Mitterrand believes that the nations of the world are not making progress toward military or economy security, but he is philosophical about it. In his first interview since his election as President of France, he said that he favored a balance of power with Soviet forces in Europe and that he planned to nationalize some French industries. (A1:1.)

House Ways and Means Committee Democrats agreed on the broad outlines of a two-year tax-relief bill. The White House promptly mounted a counteroffensive organized around a three-year tax bill as both sides jockeyed for support of conservative Southern Democrats. The Democratic proposal would cut tax rates by 5 percent in 1981 and 10 percent more in 1982. (Page A1.) U.S. auto sales by the Big Three manufacturers rose a weak 9.8 percent in the last 10 days of May from the very poor sales in the similar 1980 period. The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate for May was the lowest since last June, at 5.9 million units. (D1.)

TO some people, there's nothing to a space unless there's somewhere else to go - upstairs, downstairs, around or under. Changing levels is one of their pleasures. Although few city apartments or lofts lend themselves to this kind of design exhilaration, the exceptions offer both spatial solutions and a sense of drama. Spiral staircases, cantilevered stairs and overhanging catwalks are not for families with small children or for those with vertigo. Because it is the clients rather than the designers who must live in the spaces, facing likes and dislikes about changing levels is a primary concern.

Representative Dan Rostenkowski is a big, broad-shouldered, gregarious politician from the school of Chicago's late Mayor Richard J. Daley. In his youth, he had a chance to play big league baseball but chose politics instead. Like most athletes and politicians, he is often fired by the will to win, but never more than now. With the special pride of a new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who has long had an eye on becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives, and with Democrats still smarting from the humbling defeat they suffered on the 1982 budget, Mr. Rostenkowski has turned every effort to finding a formula for victory on tax legislation. In his characteristically direct manner, he told the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee yesterday, ''I never start a fight that I don't fight to win.'' Shrewdly, he has taken his time gauging friends and foes before putting his personal stake today on a composite two-year tax bill.

HE era of the electronic cottage is dawning. So says the author Alvin Toffler, who wrote ''The Third Wave'' on his home computer in Manhattan. So say computer manufacturers, who have sold nearly a million personal computers to families, professional people and educators. The $200 to $3,000 home computer is being marketed as a video game that can also teach foreign languages and balance a checkbook. But this is just sugar coating, intended to lure the consumer into the intellectually stimulating world of computers, say experts. ''Salesmen mention uses for the computer that just aren't real,'' said Dr. Arthur Luehrmann, a specialist in the educational uses of computers. ''No one is going to type all their cooking recipes into a computer; it's too laborious. People are buying mainly because they are curious about computers and want to learn programming. It is a very expressive, rewarding medium.''

A special committee of the New York State Bar Association said yesterday that it had approved 12 and disapproved 10 of Mayor Koch's 33 legislative proposals to reform the criminal-justice system. It did not make recommendations on the 11 others. Some of the approvals were only ''in principle'' and did not endorse the specific bills drafted by the Mayor's staff and made public last January. Among the disapproved proposals were two of the Mayor's more controversial suggestions. One would allow the pretrial jailing without bail of people charged with serious crimes whose release would ''pose a threat to the safety of the community.'' The other would allow prosecutors to appeal to a higher court sentences that they considered too lenient, a provision that the committee said would be ''unwise'' and ''unfair'' to defendants.

President Reagan has approved a new policy for the Caribbean and Central America that calls for increased economic and military assistance to combat poverty and counter what the Administration says is Cuban and Soviet subversion. Disclosing adoption of the policy, officials said today that a special report on Cuban activities in such countries as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia was being prepared and would be made public after the visit to Washington next week of President Jose Lopez Portillo of Mexico. A similar report, limited to El Salvador, was made public in March. In a related move, the State Department announced that Foreign Minister Rene Rojas Galdames of Chile would visit Washington Friday. The visit is part of an effort to improve ties with Chile, which were badly strained during the Carter Administration.

SOMETIMES it happens suddenly: an accident, a heart attack, a stroke. Sometimes it's the consequences of gradual aging. The result is often the same. When an elderly parent is no longer selfsufficient, an adult child is called upon to step in and take over the running of the household. This child may be 50 years old or more, have a home, a family, a job. But when there are decisions to be made and bills to be paid, the added responsibilities are frequently taken on - perhaps gladly, perhaps grudgingly - temporarily or permanently.

ANXIOUS MOMENT AT AWARDS CEREMONY: President and Mrs. Reagan reacting as a boy fainted during an award presentation by Frank Sinatra yesterday in the Oval Office. The boy left the office and soon recovered. Yesterday was the first full work day for the President since the attempt on his life two months ago. Page B15.

Ten men involved in operating supermarkets and grocery stores were accused yesterday by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office of conspiring to set fire to seven competing stores. The owners and insurance companies of the seven stores - four of which never reopened - suffered more than $10 million in losses because of fire damage and lost sales, according to aides to District Attorney Eugene Gold. The aides said eight of the 10 alleged conspirators had been part of a ring that sought to ''monopolize the supermarket and grocery business in North Brooklyn by burning out the competition.''