What was going on when I was born?

''I think the E.P.A. is crippled, I think it is in trouble.

Nearly six months after a leadership change in the Kremlin that raised wide expectations, the new Communist Party chief, Yuri V. Andropov, appears unwilling or unable to adopt the bold initiatives that might break the economic immobility besetting the Soviet Union. A few weeks from his 69th birthday, Mr. Andropov is looking a lot less like the man to shake the country out of its torpor than he did when he succeeded Leonid I. Brezhnev in November. His health is in question, and there are signs that he may be facing opposition from other members of the ruling Politburo. There does not appear to be any challenge to his position as general secretary of the party. But Western diplomats have concluded that he has been unable so far to muster the political weight that would be needed to break the bureaucratic inertia he inherited from Mr. Brezhnev, most strikingly in the field of economic management.

John R. Evans, a conservative Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission and enthusiastic cheerleader for the free-market system, would seem an ideal Reagan Administration ally. But Mr. Evans's position on the commission is far from secure. His term expires next month, and his chances of being appointed to a third five-year term in one of the traditionally Republican seats on the commission are clouded by an acrimonious debate within the agency.

NOT too long ago they were called social secretaries. They worked for wealthy, social women and they dealt almost exclusively with notes, invitations, appointments and place cards. Many of them, brought up in the milieu in which they ended up working, were daughters of genteel families that had fallen on hard times. Their handwriting was usually impeccable and their typing and shorthand were frequently pathetic. They exist still, but they are remnants of a dying breed. Today the small group of women who might once have been called social secretaries are frequently and legitimately referred to as private secretaries. Most are professional in both skills and attitude, differing from their corporate counterparts only in that they work in private homes or, in some cases, from their own dwellings. The women for whom they work have also changed. Their principal activity may be charity committees and benefits, but many now deal with their own finances and have interests that range from art and antiques to education and rehabilitation programs.

Political pressure is increasing for state and local pension funds to boycott investments in companies doing business in South Africa. A handful of states and cities has already passed laws requiring boycotts of this kind. Bills seeking divestiture of such securities are pending in roughly half of all state legislatures. Proponents of these statutes believe boycotts against investments even indirectly related to South Africa are an essential protest against that country's racial separation policies. Opponents see a risk that the return on the $260 billion in assets held by public pension funds may be reduced. The shortfall, they say, might have to be made up by taxes. Protests against South Africa, they assert, should be expressed in a different manner.

Forty Afghans who are being held in a former Navy jail in Brooklyn - some for as long as 15 months - face an uncertain future in their efforts to gain asylum in the United States. The 40, who say they fled persecution by the Soviet-backed Government in Afghanistan, started a hunger strike on Tuesday as they awaited the resolution of court cases brought to establish their claims for political asylum. And a group of their supporters yesterday picketed the facility at 136 Flushing Avenue, now an Immigration Service detention center. Lawyers for the aliens said it was impossible to say how much longer they would be held. In 10 cases, the requests for asylum have already been denied by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Opponents of tax withholding won a round in their efforts to force a House vote on a repeal measure this month. The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee had refused to report a repeal bill to the floor, but a petition to discharge the bill received the required 218 signatures. The move raises the prospect that the House will adopt a Senate plan that would postpone withholding from interest and dividend payments until at least 1987. (Page D1.) Three Federal budget proposals were beaten decisively by the Senate. The sponsors - two conservative Democrats and one conservative Republican - said their proposals would produce deficits below levels projected by President Reagan and the Senate Republican leadership. (A25.)

Because of an editing error, an article in Metropolitan Report on April 10 about a 20 percent increase in college tuition misidentified the affected schools. They are Southern Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University and Western Connecticut State University.

An article April 11 on the wounding of Cambodian civilians incorrectly attributed several statements to Pierre Pont, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross at a Cambodian hospital. The statements were made by another member of the hospital's staff.

A group of 41 governors, corporate leaders and other prominent figures asserted here today that the poor quality of American public schools was threatening the military, economic and social well-being of the country. ''We have expected too little of our schools over the past two decades -and we have gotten too little,'' declared the National Task Force on Education for Economic Growth. ''The result is that our schools are not doing an adequate job of educating for today's requirements in the workplace, much less tomorrow's.'' Speaking with what it called ''an unusual sense of urgency,'' the group called for ''deep and lasting change'' in the American educational system to put the country on a par with Japan and other economic competitors. Among the changes were these: - Higher salaries for teachers and a change in the fundamental salary structure to permit higher pay for teachers who have reached the ''upper levels of seniority and effectiveness.''

The nation's Big Three auto makers reported today that new car sales rose 10.5 percent in the last 10 days of April, and some analysts argued that demand for cars seemed to be slowly rising. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler sold 218,056 cars in the April 21-30 period, compared with 197,398 in the same period last year. For all of April, the Big Three reported a sales increase of just over 18 percent, with total sales last month of 531,187, compared with 449,701 in April 1982. ''For the first time this year I think things look good,'' Ann Knight, an automotive analyst with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company, said. ''Since last last year I have felt that the market was moved only by whatever sales incentive the companies were offering at the time - whatever was out there. I now have to say that the moderate but steady improvement, on a year-to-year basis, is a good sign.''

The President faces renewed pressure for more flexibility on arms control, page A13. Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly oppose nuclear arms, page B17. Excerpts from the bishops' pastoral letter, page B16. WASHINGTON, May 4 - The House of Representatives tonight approved a substantially modified resolution that calls for President Reagan to negotiate a ''mutual and verifiable freeze and reductions in nuclear weapons'' with the Soviet Union. The vote was 278 to 149.