What was going on when I was born?

WHEN you're in your 20's and on the way up in your company, lunchtime in New York can be a problem. You really can't eat in places like Lutece or the Four Seasons. It would take too long and cost too much and, if the lunch was on the expense account, it might raise the eyebrows of supervisors. On the other hand, the young executive-to-be doesn't want to be thought of as a person who lunches in mere coffee shops or fast-food places. You are, as someone once remarked, what you eat.

More than five weeks after the Israeli Army invaded Lebanon and fought its way northward to Beirut, the number of civilian casualties remains unknown. The chaos of the warfare, the destruction of city neighborhoods and refugee camps, the haste with which bodies were buried in mass graves and the absence of impartial agencies gathering statistics have made a reliable accounting impossible. It is clear to anyone who has traveled in southern Lebanon, as have many journalists and relief workers, that the original figures of 10,000 dead and 600,000 homeless, reported by correspondents quoting Beirut representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross during the first week of the war, were extreme exaggerations. It seems equally clear that the much lower figures provided later by the Israelis do not include all the casualties suffered in Lebanon since the operation began June 6.

The Koch administration is planning to eliminate a tax incentive program for developers of new high-rise apartment buildings in parts of Manhattan. Officials said the incentives were no longer needed to stimulate new housing construction in some areas, particularly on the congested Upper East Side, but the precise boundaries have not yet been determined. The decision follows much criticism of Mr. Koch's tax incentive policies, and city officials said the criticism had contributed to the Mayor's decision to fix limits during the last year on all three of the city's major incentive programs. The newest changes being developed involve lucrative tax exemptions available to developers since 1970 under a program known as 421a, which offers sharply lowered taxes for up to 10 years on new rental, cooperative and condominium apartment buildings. Developers were given exemptions of 100 percent of the taxes on their new buildings, with taxes phased in until they reached the full amount in the building's 11th year.

''The legitimate needs and problems of the Palestinian people must be addressed and resolved - urgently and in all their dimensions.'' -George P. Shultz, Secretary of State-designate. (A12:4-5.)

The Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, which suffered heavy losses in the failure on July 5 of the Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma City, has placed John R. Lytle, a vice president in the oil and gas group, on ''special assignment,'' a bank spokesman confirmed yesterday. The 47-year-old Mr. Lytle, who has been with the bank since 1959, had been responsible for Continental's lending to oil and gas producers in Oklahoma and nearby states. Continental, the nation's sixth-largest bank, had invested more than $1 billion in loans generated by Penn Square and in loans made directly to the failed bank. Most of the Penn Square loans reportedly went to small oil and gas producers in Oklahoma. With energy prices declining in recent months, many of these poorly capitalized and high-cost producers apparently were unable to meet their loan payments, according to banking sources, and this caused Penn Square's failure.

RECENT proposals to alter standards of beef grading have, like politics, made strange bedfellows. Hearings on such changes were held earlier this year and they underscored conflicting concerns of most cattlemen, who want to increase profits; health-minded consumers interested in leaner meat, and consumers who prefer traditional beefsteaks with the flavor and tenderness fat imparts. These critical interests are now being evaluated by the United States Department of Agriculture to determine if changes are in order. Testimony given at five hearings around the country, plus nearly 4,000 letters from industry spokesmen and consumers are being evaluated. A decision on the grading proposals is expected by the end of summer, according to John Ford, deputy assistant secretary for market and inspection services of the Agriculture Department. The Background Standards for the voluntary grading of beef by department graders have been altered many times since their inception by the department in 1927 -most recently in 1975. Although several factors are considered in the grading of beef, the most critical and the most disputed now is the amount of marbling - flecks of fat distributed through the lean portion of the meat.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt with violations of Federal securities laws for failing to disclose in timely fashion the purchase in 1979 and 1980 of more than 5 percent of the stock of Bache Group Inc. At the same time, the Hunt brothers signed a consent decree in which they neither admitted nor denied the commission's allegations. They also agreed to a permanent injunction barring them from owning more than 5 percent of certain publicly registered companies, including brokerage houses, unless they file a statement of ownership as required by the securities laws, according to documents filed with the United States District Court here. The Hunts also agreed to drop their suit against the commission in which they complained that the agency had violated their rights to privacy during its investigation, according to Roger Goldburg, a lawyer in Dallas who represents the Hunts.

The Treasury Secretary said today that he would not authorize Government financing support of an American manufacturer that wants to sell subway cars to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The decision by the Secretary, Donald T. Regan, against the Budd Company of Michigan allows the M.T.A. to go ahead with its contract for 825 cars with a Canadian concern, Bombardier Inc. The contract calls for the last of the cars to be delivered by May 1987. The Budd Company, contending that it had lost the contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because of export subsidy credits extended by the Canadian Government, had asked that similar financing from the Export-Import Bank be made available to the M.T.A. In Budd's view, financing from the bank might enable the M.T.A. to choose Budd over the Canadian company. In refusing the Budd request, Mr. Regan said he was convinced that Bombardier would have been awarded the M.T.A. contract ''even if Budd were able to offer matching financing.''

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced its long-deferred rules for dumping hazardous wastes in land sites, saying they would protect the nation's drinking water supply and the health of its citizens. The rules constitute one of the most comprehensive and expensive regulatory programs adopted by the Reagan Administration, which has generally concentrated on reducing the regulatory burden on business and industry. The detailed regulations fill more than 500 pages. Contaminants to Be Contained The regulations set design and construction standards for containing contaminants at landfills, impoundments and other land disposal facilities, as well as requirements for monitoring the operation of these sites and for taking corrective action if they leak. The rules are scheduled to go into effect in six months.

The Vatican announced yesterday that it had appointed three outside banking experts to look into dealings between the Vatican bank and Italy's scandal-ridden Banco Ambrosiano. The announcement, issued in Rome, represented the Vatican's first public response to the Banco Ambrosiano case. The action by the Vatican, long known for shrouding its financial affairs in secrecy, came amid mounting pressure from the Italian Government for a detailed accounting of the Vatican bank's involvement in the case. Banco Ambrosiano, Italy's largest private bank, has been under intense investigation by the Bank of Italy, the country's central bank, because of $1.4 billion in questionable unsecured loans made by Latin American subsidiaries of the bank. The dubious loans were engineered by Roberto Calvi, the bank's president, who vanished and was found hanged last month in London.

Last of three articles on Manhattan as it looks to the future. By FRANK J. PRIAL Henry Cohen of the New School for Social Research tells this story: At a dinner in Manhattan, a prominent banker finds himself next to a scientist from the Rockefeller University. The banker mentions an ailment that has bothered him and baffled doctors for years. The scientist suggests laboratory tests. Ultimately, the banker is cured and Rockefeller scientists have found a new treatment for the disease. Mr. Cohen is Dean of the Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions at the New School. He tells this story, which is true, in praise of New York, as witness to his belief that the city will thrive and endure.

Despite sluggish sales in the computer industry, the International Business Machines Corporation reported yesterday that net income for the second quarter rose by 24.4 percent, an increase that substantially exceeded Wall Street expectations. The rise was achieved despite unfavorable foreign currency translations and the slumping economy, which are hurting other large computer companies. Most other manufacturers of large computers are expected to report declining earnings for the second quarter. For the quarter ended June 30, I.B.M. had net income of $1 billion, or $1.68 a share, compared with $804 million, or $1.37 a share, in the second quarter of 1981. Revenue rose 16.8 percent, to $8.053 billion from $6.895 billion.