What was going on when I was born?

A special three-judge Federal court ruled yesterday that the New York State election could be held this year under district lines redrawn by the Legislature. Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink, who joined the swarm of lawyers in the courtroom at Foley Square, said that ''as far as we're concerned'' the decision cleared the way for a primary election on Sept. 23 and a general election on Nov. 2. Representative Jonathan B. Bingham of the Bronx, meanwhile, decided to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election. Instead, he said, he will seek the Democratic nomination in a redrawn district that pushes north into Westchester, probably against Representative Mario Biaggi.

The list of dividend meetings in Business Day on Monday was incor- rect. The correct list for this week ap- pears today on page D8.

Three years after toppling the Somoza regime, Nicaragua's Sandinist rulers are engulfed by problems, among them a stagnant economy, armed threats from abroad and a population openly disillusioned with the revolution. Gone is the aura of romance that surrounded the young rebels who seized power and in its place have come tension and frustration. ''They've lost their touch,'' a former supporter said. ''They improvised imaginatively before the revolution, but now they seem locked into slogans.''

After the companies had tried for months to take each other over, the American General Corporation of Houston announced yesterday that it had reached an agreement to acquire the NLT Corporation of Nashville for $46 a share in cash and stock, a transaction valued at $1.5 billion. The announcement capped nearly a week of meetings between officials of the two insurance companies and ended a bidding war that began in April, when American General announced a bid to gain control of NLT and NLT defended itself by announcing a tender offer for American General. While the takeover was described by both American General and NLT as a friendly merger, analysts said that NLT had been outmaneuvered by American General, which is twice its size. American General had mounted a two-pronged strategy: it made a $38-a-share offer late last month for NLT's stock, but also said that it would pay $46 a share if NLT's board endorsed the takeover.

Key members of Congress voiced deep concern today over President Reagan's decision in principle to involve American forces in a peacekeeping role in Beirut. At the same time, strong doubts were raised within the Administration that the plan would ever be put into effect. Administration officials said it was questionable whether the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose approval is needed for the Americans to be sent to Lebanon, would accept the plan now that it has become public. Officials said the premature disclosure of the plan by Israel might make it impossible for Yasir Arafat, the P.L.O. leader, to agree to the American-dominated multinational force.

The American ocean shipping industry is ''not in a state of general distress'' and would benefit from less protection, contrary to widespread public opinion and to legislation now pending in Congress, the General Accounting Office says in a study expected to be published later this week. The conclusion, in a 110-page study now in draft form, contrasts sharply with commonly accepted views of the nation's maritime industry. According to the report, data purporting to show a slide in the maritime industry's health over the last 10 years - a decline usually portrayed as a threat to national security - may have been misinterpeted. The agency, the investigative arm of Congress, contends that the industry's figures indicate that advances such as containerization of cargo have permitted the shipping industry to do more with fewer vessels - meaning that it has become more efficient and not less healthy.

NAPA, Calif. THE vines are in full leaf now under the hot summer sun all across the Napa Valley and there is talk of a great vintage in 1982, but complacency is absent among the people who grow the grapes and make the wine. The prospect of financial adversity, even bankruptcy, looms for some of the small wineries that sprouted here during the wine boom of the 1970's, when American consumers stood in line for the newly fashionable output of California vineyards. Steadily rising prices for premium California wines, sharply falling prices for many European wines and the severest economic recession since World War II have curtailed demand for many of the chardonnays, cabernet sauvignons and other varietals that were in short supply only a year or two ago. Inventories of unsold wine are climbing, losses at some wineries are mounting and a number are said to be up for sale.

International An American peacekeeping offer for Lebanon was confirmed by President Reagan. He said he had ''agreed in principle to contribute a small contingent'' of United States troops as part of a multinational force for ''temporary peacekeeping'' in Beirut if a settlement was reached there. Earlier, Israeli officials said that the American plan included French participation in a peace force of about 1,600 troops. (Page A1, Column 6.) The P.L.O. spurned a U.S. offer to evacuate Palestinian guerrillas from west Beirut on ships of the Sixth Fleet. But Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said he did not oppose American participation in a proposed multinational peace force in Lebanon. (A1:4.)

''Poverty is a career for a lot of well-paid people.'' - President Reagan, referring to bureaucrats in the poverty program. (A11:2.)

President Reagan said today that he had ''agreed in principle to contribute a small contingent'' of United States troops as part of a multinational force for ''temporary peacekeeping'' in Beirut if a settlement was reached there. Israeli officials in Jerusalem, where the American offer was reported a few hours before Mr. Reagan spoke, said the plan included French participation in the proposed force. France said it was considering participation in a peacekeeping force, but only if there was a formal request by the Lebanese Government and acceptance by the Palestine Liberation Organization. (Page A6.)

Less than two years after attaining one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, South Africa is bracing itself for its deepest recession since the 1930's. The slump in the price of gold, which edged below $300 an ounce in late June and has since recovered to only about $310, is the latest in a series of punishing blows for the South African economy. Gold accounts for almost half of the nation's export earnings, and the mines - which produce more than 70 percent of the gold mined in the non-Communist world -are by far the largest single source of Government tax revenues. Other key exports, such as diamonds, manganese and sugar, are also in the doldrums, while drought has wilted a third of the corn crop, South Africa's most important farm commodity.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development sharply scaled back its forecast for the world economy today and said that unemployment was likely to continue to rise throughout 1983. ''The long-awaited O.E.C.D. upswing has seemed so elusive that it has been termed by one skeptic the 'hide-and-seek recovery,' '' said Sylvia Ostry, the group's chief economist, at a news conference in Paris today. In a separate report on the Ameri- The Export-Import bank announced new interest rates on export financing. Page D2. can economy, the group's first since President Reagan took office, the United States was urged to reduce its budget deficit in order to help lower world interest rates. High rates, the report said, have helped stifle investment, a key component of any upswing.