December 14, 1984

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1984 International Masses of Indians fled Bhopal after an announcement that the Union Carbide plant there would be started up again Sunday to neutralize what remains of a toxic chemical that leaked Dec. 3 and killed at least 2,000 people. By the tens of thousands and using any vehicle available, the residents left, abandoning jobs and homes, crippling many services and activities. (Page A1, Column 1.) Masses of Ethiopians were carried from the famine-stricken northern areas to more fertile lands in the west and south. An armada of buses, trucks and Soviet helicopters and troop transport planes is carrying tens of thousands of hungry, destitute peasants at the start of a huge resettlement program. (A12:3-6.)

Game boards hang on the walls and whimsical objects of tin are on view in two shows that open Friday and run through March 3 at the Museum of American Folk Art, 125 West 55th Street. The game boards - more than 100 painted with dazzling colors - were handmade, mostly in the 19th century, in the United States or Canada. There's a parcheesi board with a painting of the Vermont craftsman's own home, trompe l'oeil paintings and a ''Trip Around the World'' game whose decorations include a mermaid, a sea serpent and a dungeon. The tin show consists of 19th- century gifts for 10th wedding anniversaries - some 50 lighthearted shapes, including a witch's hat, a huge pocket watch, a two-foot-tall saltshaker and a life-size ladder-back chair. Admission: $2 ($1 for students and over- 65's). Information: 581-2474. HOLIDAY ORIGAMI With deft hands, Sakiko Mitsukuri folds paper into frogs, elephants, birds, flowers, boxes and fanciful objects - the Japanese art of origami. Mindful that the art could be useful in the holiday season for gift wrapping and tree decorating, she will demonstrate origami and teach it to visitors tonight at 8 at the Rye (N.Y.) Art Center, 240 Boston Post Road (about 30 minutes from Manhattan). Admission is $7. Reservations and directions: (914) 967-0700.

A senior Administration official said this evening that President Reagan has indicated he will accept only limited savings in the military budget. This tentative decision, backing the position of Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, means that cutbacks in previously proposed military spending will fall far short of the $58 billion over three years that was recommended by Mr. Reagan's budget working group. Unless the President proposes further cuts in domestic spending, he will also fall short of his goal of reducing the deficit, now running more than $200 billion a year, to $100 billion in 1988. 'Tantamount to' Final Decision The official, who requested anonymity, said no final word had come from Mr. Reagan. But the President's reaction in a meeting Wednesday with Secretary Weinberger and the budget working group, he said, ''is tantamount to'' a final decision.

Early Christmas shoppers helped push retail sales up 1.8 percent in November for the sharpest gain in seven months, the Government reported today. The Reagan Administration called it a ''cheerful start'' for the Christmas selling season. Some private economists saw the gain as a signal that the economy is finally rebounding from its prolonged summer slump. The Commerce Department said retail sales, after adjustment for seasonal variations, rose to a record $110.3 billion in November. Clothing stores and department stores both registered big increases.

Just what is Sir James Goldsmith, the secretive British millionaire, up to now? A few months ago, the 51-year-old maverick tried and failed to buy Continental Group Inc., the old Continental Can Company, for $2.5 billion. Before that, he had sought to buy into the St. Regis Corporation in a big way, but St. Regis proved coldly unreceptive. In neither instance was Sir James entirely disappointed. In the St. Regis episode, the group he headed accepted a $50 million profit for its 9 percent of the company's shares. His stake in Continental yielded an estimated $35 million profit when he bowed out after losing to Peter Kiewit Sons Inc. and David H. Murdock, the West Coast millionaire.