May 5, 1983

''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.