New Delhi, Aug 31 : The Congress on Thursday attacked the government, saying that the GDP rate of 7.8 per cent for the first quarter of the current fiscal was the lowest in the past three years and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no answers to these hard challenges as he has "squandered his mandate and wasted the demographic dividend". According to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India's economic growth stood at 7.8 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal, a steep fall from 13.1 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of last year. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said: "This is QSQT (Quarter se Quarter Tak) time. Here are some plain facts: Since Covid-19 recovery, starting 2021-22, the Q1 GDP growth rate has always been high because of the low base effect. This year's Q1 GDP growth rate is the lowest in the past three years. Declining GDP growth trend is clearly visible no matter which quarter you look at. And this was the trend before the pandemic as well. "But here's the main issue, the only growth that the people of India are worried about is the rising prices of essential commodities, increasing youth unemployment, and the growing inequality as their incomes fall. The Prime Minister has no answers to these hard challenges. He has squandered his mandate and wasted away the demographic dividend. Headline and image management will no longer work. India is ready to move on." /IANS