It is a human rights issue. Everyone has a right to follow their religion.
My passport photo was rejected by the officials at the High Commission of India in London because I was wearing a hijab. I was asked to bring a photo in which my ears were exposed. I was told it was for identification purposes and was a rule being observed at all the consulates of India. However this was not mentioned in the High commission of India, London, website in the photograph requirements section. http://www.hcilondon.in/passport.html
India is a secular country with a long tradidion of religious and multicultural tolerence. It is an essential human right of an individual to practice his/her religion. Women have a dress code in Islam described as Hijab, which is a garment with which she covers her head and body when she is with strangers. While the extent of covering varies in different sects and groups most would agree that the hair and the ears are part of it based on the quranic verse: "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their khimār over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husband, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. (Quran, Surah Noor 24:31)"
The prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan singh, himself wears a sikh turban which hides his ears in most of his photographs including the one of his swearing in ceremony. If the turban is not an impediment to his identification why should it be for a woman who wears hijab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IM4YI5Bdho. Even the western countries like the UK, who are very vigilant about security have not imposed such requirements for women observing hijab.  https://www.gov.uk/photos-for-passports.
Therefore it is very important that this decision to ask women who observe hijab to expose their ears for photographs for identification documents like the passport be revised.