Introduce retry mechanism for npm install in CI/CD

This commit addresses occasional pipeline failures caused by transient
network errors during dependency installation with `npm ci`. It
centralizes the logic for installing npm dependencies and introduces a
retry mechanism.

The new approach will attempt `npm ci` up to 5 times with a 5-second
interval between each attempt, thereby increasing the resilience of
CI/CD pipelines.

This commit adds a new script `npm-install.js` with `npm run
install-deps` command to centralize npm dependency installation process
throughout the project. Separate testing of scripts to a separate
workflow.

It removes unused `install` dependency from `package.json`.

docs/development.md

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ See [ci-cd.md](./ci-cd.md) for more information.
 
 ### Prerequisites
 
-- Install node >15.x.
-- Install dependencies using `npm install`.
+- Install Node >16.x.
+- Install dependencies using `npm install` (or [`npm run install-deps`](#utility-scripts) for more options).
 
 ### Testing
 
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ See [ci-cd.md](./ci-cd.md) for more information.
 
 #### Utility scripts
 
-- [**`./scripts/fresh-npm-install.sh`**](../scripts/fresh-npm-install.sh):
-  - Run fresh NPM install.
-  - This script provides a clean NPM install, removing existing node modules and optionally the package-lock.json (when run with -n), then installs dependencies and runs unit tests.
+- [**`npm run install-deps [-- <options>]`**](../scripts/npm-install.js):
+  - Manages NPM dependency installation, it offers capabilities like doing a fresh install, retries on network errors, and other features.
+  - For example, you can run `npm run install-deps -- --fresh` to do clean installation of dependencies.
 - [**`./scripts/configure-vscode.sh`**](../scripts/configure-vscode.sh):
   - This script checks and sets the necessary configurations for VSCode in `settings.json` file.