The ASI recently discovers a 2000-year old trade centre near the banks of Swarnamukhi River, in the present state of Andhra Pradesh. The ASI team unearthed brick-built structures, four-armed sculptures of Lord Vishnu, broken terracotta pipes in its first round of excavation. The bricks were common in the Satavahana/Ikshvaku period of the Krishna valley while the sculpture of the deity belonged to the Pallava period as per the experts. The second round of excavation is going to begin in November-December, 2019.

Bill Gates (63) in full William Henry Gates III, an American business magnate, author, and Microsoft co-founder, has crowned the title of world’s richest man 2019 by beating Jeffrey Preston Bezos (55), the founder & CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the legendary e-commerce American company Amazon.

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has released a special commemorative coin on Paramahansa Yogananda. The coin has been released to mark Paramahansa Yogananda’s 125th birth anniversary.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu introduced a 15 point charter to improve the functioning of Parliament. According to this, political parties should ensure at least 50% attendance of the members to overcome the issues of lack of quorum.

Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi was appointed as the new director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He replaces the late Yukiya Amano. He is expected to assume office on 1 January 2020. Grossi has been appointed for a term of four years. He will be the sixth head of the IAEA.

Mercedes’ driver and 5-time world champion Lewis Hamilton clinched his 10th win of the season for Mercedes at the Mexican Grand Prix 2019.

Indian Army’s officer Lt. Col. Swaroop Singh Kuntal became the fastest Indian to complete Ironman Malaysia in a record timing of 12 hours and 14 minutes. Ironman event consists of sea swimming followed by cycling and running. The triathlon is required to be done in a cut- off time of 17 hours. During cycling, the maximum temperature reached 380C, and while running, it reached 350C.

ICICI Bank which had a 10% stake in GST Network, has sold its entire 10% stake to 13 state Governments. The stake sale is for aggregate cash consideration of Rs 1 crore. The bank will transfer a 0.14 percent stake to the Assam government and 0.81 percent stake to the Telangana government. Besides, it will transfer Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh governments 0.82 percent stake each.

In a move that may boost digital payments, businesses with an annual turnover of more than ₹50 crore will have to mandatorily offer electronic mode of payments to their customers from 1 November, the finance ministry said on Friday.

15 new PRAKHAR Multipurpose vans are launched by the Delhi Police to curb street crimes in addition to already operational 15 vans, launched in September 2019. These vans are equipped with the latest gadgets, Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) with inbuilt GPS

Lebanon’s PM Saad Hariri had to resign after mass protest against imposing tax on WhatsApp and Facebook in the country. On October 17, the government announced to impose tax on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for sending messages and calls.

The Himachal Pradesh state government announced that a total of 2,209 panchayats out of the total 3,226 had been brought under the of natural farming under Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kissan Yojana. The announcement was made by the Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi on 29 October of the state-level Task Force for Promotion of Organic and Zero Budget Natural Farming.

India signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to launch the RuPay card in the country, making it the third nation in West Asia to initiate India’s digital payment system. It will benefit not only the 2.6 million Indians in the Gulf Kingdom but also Haj and Umrah pilgrims. The RuPay card is a first-of-its-kind Indian domestic Debit and Credit Card payment network.