- The `batch/v2alpha1.CronJob` is deprecated in favor of `batch/v1beta1`.

 - The `batch/v2alpha1.ScheduledJob` was removed. Use `batch/v1beta1.CronJob` instead.

### Auth

 - The RBAC v1alpha1 API group is deprecated in favor of RBAC v1.

* Federation: Add `batch/jobs` API objects to federation-apiserver ([#35943](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/35943), [@jianhuiz](https://github.com/jianhuiz))

- Improved PVC Protection Controller's scalability by batch-processing PVCs by namespace with lazy live pod listing. ([#125372](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/125372), [@hungnguyen243](https://github.com/hungnguyen243)) [SIG Apps, Node, Storage and Testing]

- The watch API endpoints prefixed with `/watch` are deprecated and will be removed in a future release. These standard method for watching resources (supported since v1.0) is to use the list API endpoints with a `?watch=true` parameter. All client-go clients have used the parameter method since v1.6.0. ([#65147](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/65147),...

*   Custom resources served by CustomResourceDefinition objects now support field selectors for `metadata.name` and `metadata.namespace`. Also fixed an issue with watching a single object; earlier versions could watch only a collection, and so a watch on an instance would fail.  ([#53345](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/53345),[ @ncdc](https://github.com/ncdc))

#### **Other**

  Jobs that are tracked using this mechanism get the annotation `batch.kubernetes.io/job-tracking`. This is a temporary measure. Two releases after this feature graduates to beta, the annotation won't be added to Jobs anymore. ([#98817](https://github.com/kubernete...

## Changes by Kind

### API Change

- Improved throughput in the `real-FIFO` queue used by `informers` and `controllers` by adding batch handling for processing watch events. ([#132240](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132240), [@yue9944882](https://github.com/yue9944882)) [SIG API Machinery, Scheduling and Storage]

* Fix watch to not send the same set of events multiple times causing watcher to go back in time ([#73845](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/73845), [@wojtek-t](h...

* Requests with invalid credentials no longer match audit policy rules where users or groups are set, correcting a problem where authorized requests were getting through. ([#59398](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/59398), [@CaoShuFeng](https://github.com/CaoShuFeng))