October 30, 1982

Republican leaders, thrown on the defensive by their own polls showing a Democratic surge in mid-October, are striking back in regional trouble spots in an effort to hold their Senate majority and to stave off major Democratic gains in the House of Representatives. In two final days of campaigning in the West, President Reagan focused his fire on the touchy Social Security issue and the theme that ''America is on her way back'' from recession because of his economic program. (Page 33.) Mr. Reagan seized on an announcement that the index of leading economic A surge of contributions strengthened the prospects of Republican Congressional candidates. Page 33. indicators rose five-tenths of 1 percent in September, marking the fifth gain in six months. (Page 37.)

In a few weeks he will become the youngest prime minister in Western Europe. He is only 40 years old, and he looks even younger. But Felipe Gonzalez firmly rejects the charge that he is too naive, too inexperienced to govern. ''I have been deeply involved in politics for 20 years,'' he said a few days before his sweeping victory in Thursday's general election, which returned the Spanish left to power after more than 40 years in exile and then in opposition. ''There are few politicians today in Spain who have as much experience as I do with democracy.'' The Socialist victory was so sweeping that it shattered the ruling Union of the Democratic Center and even deprived Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo of his own seat. The Prime Minister, who will lead a caretaker government until the Socialists take over in December, promised that he would allow no power vacuum to develop in Spain while the country awaits Socialist rule. (Page 4.)

More than a year after the deadline for compliance with New York City's fire-safety code, 167 of the city's 851 high-rise office buildings have met all the law's requirements, according to city building and fire officials. Blaise F. Parascandola, deputy commissioner of the Department of Buildings, said in an interview that owners of nearly half the city's office towers had done little or nothing to comply. He added that, since last October, when 150 buildings were in compliance, only 17 more landlords had installed all the safety equipment required by the code. He added that those who had shown at least some effort to meet the regulations - about one-third of the landlords - had been given extensions, most of which expire at the end of this year. ''We use the carrot-and-stick approach,'' he said. Deputy Mayor Nathan Leventhal said last year that the city would try to send delinquent landlords to jail. But Mr. Parascandola said that, in the last year, the city's Corporation Counsel had failed to ''vigorously pursue'' 297 landlords who did not show up in court in response to citations, and that no one had been jailed for noncompliance.

John Z. De Lorean was indicted by a Federal grand jury today on charges of drug trafficking and racketeering. His lawyers posted $10 million bail soon afterward, and he walked out of the Federal prison here after spending 10 nights in jail. The indictment charged that Mr. De Lorean financed a multimilliondollar cocaine operation that was aborted last week when drug agents seized 60 pounds of cocaine worth $24 million. The indictment supersedes similar charges that were filed against the maverick automobile company executive on Oct. 19.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the marketing of human insulin made artificially from gene-splicing techniques. It is the first such product of genetic engineering to be granted Governmental approval for human use. The new insulin, called Humulin, is manufactured by a technique known as recombinant DNA, which involves inserting human genetic instructions into a bacterium that then produces the drug. The approval by the Food and Drug Administration came five months after application was made by Eli Lilly and Company of Indianapolis, Ind. Normally, such approval takes 20 to 30 months.