Merge Release/2024 q2 into master

[SaikrishnaBairamoni]

PR Details

This PR merges the release candidate branch into the master branch for the Q2 2024 release.

Description

How Has This Been Tested?

Types of changes

• Defect fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist:

• My changes require new environment variables:
  • I have updated the docker-compose, K8s YAML, and all dependent deployment configuration files.
• My changes require updates to the documentation:
  • I have updated the documentation accordingly.
• My changes require updates and/or additions to the unit tests:
  • I have modified/added tests to cover my changes.
• All existing tests pass.