The Centre for Tribal Languages (CTL), a division of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), has been preparing ''white paper'' on status of dying or endangered languages and tribes in each state in the country. Speaking to reporters here today, G Devi Prasad Sastry, reader cum research officer at CTL, said the Union Government had taken the decision after UNESCO World Atlas of Endangered Languages had listed 196 Indian languages as endangered and it was necessary to preserve them. He said that CIIL fact-finding teams have covered four States, including Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Currently, the teams are focusing on Bhili dialects in Chhattigarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajastan. Mr Sastry said languages would count as endangered if they are spoken by less than 10,000 people. In Tripura, there few languages that are spoken by only few families. For instance, Saimar is spoken by only 25 people of four families and same is the case with Korbong, which was the second official language of Tripura.