What was going on when I was born?

A former accountant for New York City and a Brooklyn businessman were indicted yesterday on charges of scheming to embezzle more than $300,000 in Medicaid funds from the city. A former city caseworker was named as a co-conspirator in the Federal indictment. It was announced yesterday by Rudolph W. Giuliani, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Patrick W. McGinley, the city's Investigations Commissioner, at a City Hall news conference with Mayor Koch.

A 19-year-old woman charged with pushing a stranger into the path of an oncoming subway train Tuesday was released as a psychiatric patient from Kings County Hospital Center less than a month ago against the recommendation of doctors who treated her. Hospital officials said the woman, Mary Ventura, who was involuntarily committed to the hospital's psychiatric services last summer, was released two months later after a court hearing. She was represented by lawyers for Mental Health Information Service, a patients' rights group. ''The mental hygiene law says that anyone who wants to be released and requests it in writing gets a court hearing,'' said Dr. Luis Marcos, vice president for mental hygiene services at the City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the Kings County center.

President Reagan bowed to overwhelming Congressional pressure today and endorsed a resolution that would bar an arms deal with Jordan until March 1, unless Israel and Jordan begin ''direct and meaningful peace negotiations'' before then. The resolution was drafted by Senate leaders to head off a defeat for the Administration, and President Reagan agreed to it while in New York, where he is for ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. The measure is scheduled for a Senate vote on Thursday and is expected to get nearly unanimous approval. 'Real Test' for Hussein Opponents of the arms deal in the House of Representatives reacted positively to the Senate compromise, but said they wanted to study it further.

The Economy A rise in September's consumer prices will mean more money for tens of millions of Americans next year because of laws adjusting Social Security and the Federal income tax for inflation. But the 0.2 percent rise means the smallest increase in payments to Social Security, 3.1 percent, since the payments were ''indexed'' in 1972. A median-income family of four will save $81 in taxes. [Page D1.] Costs in the New York-northeastern New Jersey region rose 0.4 percent. [D6.] Durable goods orders fell 1.1 percent in September, continuing a seesaw pattern affected by the military category. [D6.] The Ways and Means Committee voted to limit a tax shelter enjoyed by big banks. The House panel also planned weekend meetings that could make or break the push for tax revision. [D1.]

The United Automobile Workers and the Chrysler Corporation reached a tentative contract early this morning that erases most of the concessions the union granted in Chrysler's financial crisis of 1979-82. If members approve the contract in voting over the weekend, the week-old strike by 70,000 workers could end Monday. The agreement, which came after a 42-hour bargaining session at Chrysler headquarters here, provides for immediate bonuses of over $2,000 for each active Chrysler worker and $1,000 for each retired worker, as well as pay and benefit increases to match workers at General Motors and Ford. $1 Billion in Labor Costs The raise in the first year is to be 2.25 percent. In the second year workers will not get an increase in base pay but will get 2.25 percent paid in a lump sum. In the third year, the raise will be 3 percent.

The Exxon Corporation said yesterday that its earnings fell 22.3 percent in the third quarter, hurt by declining world oil prices and the cost of closing two refining and chemical plants in West Germany. Exxon's results parallel those at other oil companies, where refining and marketing divisions have shown noticeable gains, but other factors have kept earnings flat or below the levels of a year ago. The Phillips Petroleum Company said yesterday that its earnings, reflecting its costly struggle to remain independent, plummeted 83.4 percent from a year earlier. The Shell Oil Company, which earlier this year was completely absorbed by its parent, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, said that its quarterly profit dropped 18.3 percent.

For the fifth consecutive month, consumer prices in September rose by two-tenths of 1 percent as the nation's inflation rate maintained its slowest pace in nearly two decades, the Labor Department reported today. The Consumer Price Index figures released by the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics will mean more money in the pockets of tens of millions of Americans next year because of laws that adjust Social Security benefits and the Federal income tax for inflation. But the low rate of inflation means the smallest increase in payments to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries, 3.1 percent, since those payments were ''indexed'' by Congress in 1972. Beginning next January the average retired worker, who now draws $464 a month in Social Security benefits, will get $14 more, a 3.1 percent increase, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The recruiting drive is on for artists, students, housewives and out-of-work executives as well as low-skilled young adults. They are part of the army of temporary workers who are becoming a much larger presence in the American business office. But in contrast to the past practice of using ''temps'' only for occasional short-term assignments, many companies now rely on a steady stream of temporary workers to fill positions that heretofore were permanently staffed. They are doing so, in large part, because of a growing recognition that it is faster and less costly to eliminate temporary workers than to cut back permanent staff members when business falls off.

Unsightly and destructive plant tumors caused by tiny wasps are threatening tens of thousands of pin oak trees in Queens and on Long Island. The golf ball-size tumors, called horned oak galls, form after wasps have laid their eggs in the outer branches of the pin oaks. The galls disrupt the flow of nutrients, cause extensive defoliation and over a period of four to eight years can kill a tree. The infestation is forcing horticulturists in New York City and on Long Island to try a number of pioneering and expensive methods to reduce wasp populations and control gall development.

The headline yesterday on a Washington dispatch about the confirmation of Charles Fried as Solicitor General of the United States misstated his position on abortion. Like the Reagan Administration, Mr. Fried has asked that the Supreme Court return abortion law to its status before 1973, when each state legislature determined its legality or illegality; he has not advocated a Supreme Court ban.

International King Hussein welcomed the spirit of a peace proposal made Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The Jordanian monarch, speaking in an interview, reaffirmed his view that an international peace conference under United Nations auspices was the only way to resolve Arab-Israeli differences. [Page A1, Col. 6.] Officials averted an arms sale clash in Washington. Senate Republican leaders and President Reagan agreed to ban any sales of advanced weapons to Jordan until March 1, unless Jordan and Israel begin ''direct and meaningful peace negotiations'' before then. [A1:5.]

King Hussein of Jordan today welcomed the ''spirit'' of a peace proposal made Monday by Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel. ''I believe his speech represents the beginning of movement in the right direction,'' the King said, ''and reflects a personal concern for the fate of future generations and a determination to contribute towards the achievement of peace in our time.'' King Hussein, speaking in an interview with The New York Times at his palace here, called Mr. Peres's speech ''positive in spirit'' even though it did not ''meet the needs of the moment'' because of some reservations maintained by Israel. Reviewing Joint P.L.O. Role The King, discussing the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that he remained committed to the accord he and the P.L.O. signed on Feb. 11 about a joint bid for peace, but that he was reviewing his relationship with the group. He said the review was part of a reassessment of ''the whole situation'' to see where the P.L.O. stood and what joint steps could be taken to revive plans for peace talks.